Israel Shouldn’t Let Poland’s Holocaust Law Interfere with an Important Alliance

While Amnon Lord finds himself in agreement with the substance of Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s condemnation of a recent law passed by the Polish parliament ending any Jewish efforts to seek restitution for property stolen during and after the Holocaust, he argues against antagonizing Warsaw. It is better, Lord writes, “to be smart, not just right.”

The important thing . . . is that the Poland of today, despite its nationalism, is a type of ally—or it was until elements in Israel decided gradually to destroy relations with it. Cooperation with [Warsaw] in terms of military aviation is a cornerstone of [Israeli] national security. The Poles also buy weapons and other systems from us. Poland is an important potential partner for Israel, together with the member countries of the Visegrad Group (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia) in its effort to crack the West European bloc that holds anti-Israel views. Despite the desecration of Jewish gravestones in Poland, we can dare say that the Jews living there today are safer than the Jews living in France and some parts of the United States.

Read more at Israel Hayom

More about: Holocaust restitution, Israel diplomacy, Poland

 

Why South Africa Has Led the Legal War against Israel

South Africa filed suit with the International Court of Justice in December accusing Israel of genocide. More recently, it requested that the court order the Jewish state to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip—something which, of course, Israel has been doing since the war began. Indeed, the country’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC) has had a long history of support for the Palestinian cause, but Orde Kittrie suggests that the current government, which is plagued by massive corruption, has more sinister motives for its fixation on accusing Israel of imagined crimes:

ANC-led South Africa has . . . repeatedly supported Hamas. In 2015 and 2018, the ANC and Hamas signed memoranda of understanding pledging cooperation against Israel. The Daily Maverick, a South African newspaper that previously won an international award for exposing ANC corruption, has reported claims that Iran “essentially paid the ANC to litigate against Israel in the ICJ.”

The ANC-led government says it is motivated by humanitarian principle. That’s contradicted by its support for Russia, and by [President Cyril] Ramaphosa’s warmly welcoming a visit in January by Mohamed Dagalo, the leader of the Sudanese-Arab Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia. Ramaphosa’s smiling, hand-holding welcome of Dagalo occurred two months after the RSF’s systematic massacre of hundreds of non-Arab Sudanese refugees in Darfur.

While the ANC has looted its own country and aided America’s enemies, the U.S. is insulating the party from the consequences of its corruption and mismanagement.

In Kittrie’s view, it is “time for Congress and the Biden administration to start helping South Africa’s people hold Ramaphosa accountable.”

Read more at The Hill

More about: International Law, Iran, South Africa