“The United Nations is singling out Israel and the Jewish people for differential and discriminatory treatment in the international arena. It purports to protect international human rights, but instead gives anti-Jewishness a protective cover.” Irwin Cotler, Member of the Canadian … [Read More]
Category Archives: 2003
After the war the French ignored the surviving Jews. They wanted to wipe out the recent past and start anew from a state of forgetfulness. The philosopher Jean Paul Sartre concludes this in his book Reflexions sur la question juive, … [Read More]
For Laurence Weinbaum, director of research at the Institute of the World Jewish Congress, Jerusalem, the notion of moral restitution is a misnomer vis-a-vis the reception of the surviving Jews in Poland after the Holocaust. “There were many instances of … [Read More]
After the fall of communism in 1989, the issue of Jewish property restitution in Eastern Europe gradually reemerged. Its main proponents were Polish and Czech Jews, but the subject was raised in Jewish organizations as well. As a result, in … [Read More]
The Small Shoah: Jews in Post-war Netherlands, by the political scientist Isaac Lipschits, was published in 2001 in Holland, where it became a bestseller. In its first chapter the author writes: “In the liberated Netherlands, the Jews were not endangered … [Read More]
By 1943 the Allies were convinced they were going to win the war. They started preparing for the invasion of ltaly and for moving into northern Europe. Simultaneously, they initiated detailed contingency planning in many fields. Among these was the … [Read More]
For decades it was inconceivable that the issue of financial restitution for Jewish properties looted and stolen during the Second World War would be reopened, other than by historians. A few years ago, however, this subject rather suddenly received major … [Read More]
How does the Israeli media deal with the Shoah and related news items? According to Yair Sheleg, Jewish affairs reporter for Ha’aretz daily, the Israeli media’s attitude on most issues is determined by its business structure and the society it … [Read More]
Rabbi Michael Melchior was the Minister for Israeli Society and the World Jewish Community in Ehud Barak’s cabinet from 1999 to 2001. Thereafter until 2002, as Israel’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, he was responsible inter alia for Israel’s relationship … [Read More]
The attitude of the Catholic Church toward the Jews has radically changed in recent decades, followed by a transformation in its position vis-a-vis Israel. Aharon Lopez, Israel’s former ambassador to the Vatican, illustrates this turnaround by citing two events. “In … [Read More]