Tzipi Hotovely with Samueli Vitanan
Tzipi Hotovely with Samueli VitananTzipi Hotovely's spokesperson

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) met on Wednesday with Finnish Deputy Foreign Minister Samuli Virtanen, who visited Israel for the first time, in an effort to strengthen ties between the two countries.

In their conversation, Hotovely went over the changes which need to be made to the Iran deal in order to ensure global safety.

She also discussed the conflict between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel, saying that "the two-state solution does not work, and we need to concentrate on the real problems, which are incitement by the Palestinian Authority, and financial support of terror." She noted that the PA leadership is divided between Hamas and the PA.

Emphasizing the problems UNRWA creates, Hotovely said, "It is unthinkable that UNRWA defines refugees as something other than what international law defines them as. According to UNRWA, [in contrast to refugees worldwide who are not Palestinian Arabs] refugee status is passed from generation to generation, so that even fifth-generation descendants are considered refugees from Israel."

Finland is one of UNRWA's financial supporters.

"Israel expects its friends to go with the historical truth regarding Jerusalem, and expects support in all international forums," Hotovely emphasized, hinting that she expects the Finnish Embassy to move to Jerusalem..