Shorts: World

Netherlands may get Holocaust-denial law

the hague (jta) | A Christian political party in the Netherlands proposed a bill to make Holocaust and genocide denial a criminal offense.

The proposed law would make illegal the "denial, trivialization, approval or justification of genocide and crimes against humanity," with punishments of up to one year imprisonment or large fines.

The bill was proposed by the Christian Union Party, which holds three of the 150 seats in the Dutch Parliament. The legislation could be discussed for several months before it is put to vote in both houses of Parliament.




Croatia asked to fight anti-Semitism

zagreb (ap) | The head of the European Jewish Congress, Pierre Besnainou, has asked Croatia to adopt severe laws condemning any anti-Semitic act after recent incidents in which local Jews were targeted.

Croatia has laws punishing glorification of Nazism or fascism, but it does not have a separate law dealing with anti-Semitism.

The issue is particularly sensitive in a country that was a Nazi puppet state during World War II. Though some in the country of 4.5 million still tend to diminish the crimes committed by their compatriots in World War II, the pro-Western government has condemned Nazism and fascism.




Woman to head Germany's Jews

berlin (jta) | Germany's secular Jewish community will be headed by a woman for what is believed to be the first time. Charlotte Knobloch, long-time activist in postwar German Jewish life, was elected to head the Central Council of Jews in Germany.

The election of Knobloch, 73, follows the death of the council's former president, Paul Spiegel, on April 30, at age 68. Knobloch also is a vice president of the World Jewish Congress and European Jewish Congress, and heads the Jewish community of Munich and the State of Bavaria. There are an estimated 120,000 Jews living in Germany.