Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the head of the Jerusalem office of the Simon Wiesenthal center, had called on Hussein al-Taee to resign.

By JNS and EJP contribution

A newly elected member of Finland’s parliament has apologized for past remarks against Jews and other minorities.

Hussein al-Taee’s past offensive remarks include writing about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, “Jew doing what a Jew does best. F***s up everybody to gain everything.

He also compared Israel to the Islamic State and denigrated Sunni Muslims, gays, Somalis and other groups.

“I have no words to shame, now I feel the prejudices, the ideas and the language which I have used homosexuals, Jews, Sunnis, Somalis or other groups of people,” wrote Hussein al-Taee of the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP) on his website on Monday.

“I come from a very conservative background where attitudes, such as gender roles and sexual minorities, are far from what I think now. In my growth environment, homosexuality was a taboo that had no words to deal with,” he continued. “In my friends’ circle, one way to deal with this fear was also disdainful speech. As a student in Britain I became acquainted with a homosexual teacher, I was confused in a way that now seems crazy.”

Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the head of the Jerusalem office of the Simon Wiesenthal center, had called on al-Taee to resign. He told  The Jerusalem Post that if al-Taee is sincere about his apology he “should take responsibility and resign.”

The Finnish elections were held on April 14 with SDP winning the most seats.