Europe
Psychiatrists say Kobili Traoré, who killed neighbor Sarah Halimi in Paris because she was Jewish, is not responsible for his actions • French Jews outraged, say evaluation designed to avoid trial and obscure anti-Semitic motive.
The Lawfare Project has already filed complaints against the bill, saying it would violate foreign-trade competences that belong exclusively to the European Union. It plans to continue to pursue legal action.
The move to ban such products—the first by a country in the European Union—has been strongly condemned in Israel and is opposed by the ruling party in Ireland.
Historian Yehuda Bauer, 92, says the joint Israeli-Polish statement on Poland’s controversial Holocaust law attacks the memory of the Holocaust and silences attempts to tell the stories of what befell Polish Jews at the hands of their countrymen.
The statement issued by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki “contains highly problematic wording that contradicts existing and accepted historical knowledge in this field.”
“In this memorial year in which we are particularly aware of our historic responsibility, I want to clearly emphasize that we condemn in the strongest possible terms any form of anti-Semitism and any downplaying or even denial of the Holocaust,” said Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
The City Council of Castrillon in northern Spain passed a motion last year effectively boycotting Israel, Israeli businesses and companies during business with Israel.
The law first proposed earlier this year had sought criminal penalties for any accusing the Polish nation of complicity in the Holocaust, but was widely condemned and threatened to undermine positive relations between Poland, the United States and Israel.
The new measure will mean the establishment of work teams and the completion of blueprints for a seaport within three months.
William, who is second in line to the throne, is scheduled to tour Israel and the West Bank during his three-day visit, which is being seen as a major test for the 36-year-old grandson of Queen Elizabeth due to the complex political and religious sensitivities surrounding his stay.
The Israel Defense Forces flew a platoon of 40 soldiers and officers to Europe, where together with American troops they parachuted down to the ground from aircraft, and practiced seizing airfields and other targets.
The ESJF was founded in 2015 to protect Jewish burial sites in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly in places where Jewish communities were wiped out during the Holocaust. So far, it has placed fences around 102 Jewish cemeteries in six European countries and conducted mass field surveys of sites.
