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‘Deeply concerned’ Romania blocking Jew-hatred law, World Jewish Congress says

The Romanian president’s decision risks “eroding decades of progress Romania has made in confronting its past and honoring the memory of its victims,” the group said.

Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, at the Jerusalem Chairman's Conference on Sept. 22, 2013. Photo by Flash90.
Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, at the Jerusalem Chairman’s Conference on Sept. 22, 2013. Photo by Flash90.

Romanian President Nicușor Daniel Dan’s decision last month to delay legislation targeting Jew-hatred, Holocaust denial and far-right extremism is “deeply” concerning, Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, stated last week.

The southeastern European country’s president has slowed passage of legislation that “would significantly strengthen Romania’s ability to confront antisemitism and the distortion of Holocaust history,” Lauder said.

He added that Dan’s move “has been widely perceived, both domestically and internationally, as legitimizing efforts to rehabilitate war criminals and emboldening those who seek to deny or distort the Holocaust.”

“This carries the risk of eroding decades of progress Romania has made in confronting its past and honoring the memory of its victims,” he added.

“These movements don’t stop with a boycott. We know where this is going, and that’s why we are going to get out ahead of it,” an attorney at the center told JNS.
On May 9, vandals spray-painted antisemitic symbols and Bible references on the Waukesha County memorial, which includes a steel beam from the World Trade Center.
“I’m not sure we should make the deal if they don’t sign,” the U.S. president said at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. “I think they owe that to us.”
The protest was “a powerful show of solidarity,” Jayne Zirkle of the Lawfare Project told JNS. “To condemn people for attending such an event is to condemn the very principles of freedom our nation was founded on.”
“If publicly-funded institutions cannot host such events without folding to pressure, serious questions arise about that funding,” a Jewish House of Lords member said.
The attacks followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement on Tuesday that the IDF is deepening its operations in Lebanon.