Politically correct cosmetics

Recently, there has been a lot of talk online about importing Israeli products, such as fruits and cosmetics, to Finland. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has received feedback from concerned consumers who want to know from which part of Israel the products are coming from. Probably, so they could boycott products coming from the areas that raise a lot of political debates around the world for other reasons, too.

A couple of days ago Finland's biggest newspaper Helsingin Sanomat published an article on the matter. The newspaper didn't clearly take a stand to one direction or another (hmm, ok, maybe slightly favoring these concerned consumers just like the European Union thinks), but bluntly reported what's going on and why.

886 Finns recommended the article on Facebook and 111 comments were written on the newspaper's website. It is really interesting how the topic makes so many people here to pick a side. A lot of discussion is heated up over not much since the Israeli products – after a quick look in the supermarket or department store – clearly are a tiny minority in the total product offering here.

There are comments for and against. Some say it is waste of time and that our ministry should concentrate on more critical things (ahem, like what's going on in Israel's neighboring countries). Other comments bring up China and Russia; same should be done to them as well then – it is unfair to ”punish” just one country. Someone said a list and markings like this would help them to recognize Israeli products better and therefore buy them more.

The other side condemns Israel's military actions and settlements. If Israel is the only democratic country in the region, it should have no problem revealing the origins of its products. History, everything from Biblical times and Ottoman Empire to British Mandate is brought in to justify an opinion.

Summa summarum? It is no surprise that all these 111 comments and opinions can't come to an agreement and conclusion on what is right. If it did and things were so simple and black & white, the centuries old conflict would have been solved a long time ago. And it would have been done somewhere else than on a Finnish newspaper forum.

These are "Just minerals". No pun intended.