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California Lawmaker Introduces Legislation to Help Restitution of Property Stolen During Holocaust
Visitors stand by Camille Pissarro’s “Rue Saint-Honore in the Afternoon. Effect of Rain, 1897” at Thyssen-Bornemisza museum in Madrid, Spain, April 22, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Susana Vera
California Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D) introduced legislation on Thursday that would assist California residents in recovering artwork and other types of personal property stolen during the Holocaust or other times of persecution.
Assembly Bill (AB) 2867 would mandate that California law must apply in lawsuits that involve such stolen items.
“This bill will ensure that Holocaust survivors and other victims of persecution can secure justice through our legal system and recover property that rightfully belongs to them and their families,” said Gabriel, who also co-chairs the California Legislative Jewish Caucus. “Our effort will make it crystal clear that California law must triumph over foreign law, that California stands with Holocaust survivors, and that cases must be decided based on truth, justice, and morality, not the misapplication of legal technicalities.”
The bill was inspired by a ruling in January by the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that a museum in Madrid, Spain, was not forced to return a famous artwork by Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro to the heirs of a Jewish woman, even though it was stolen from her by the Nazis during the Holocaust. The court ruled against the descendants of Lilly Cassirer regarding the painting Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon. Effect of Rain. The three-judge panel said the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, which is owned by the Spanish government, could maintain ownership of the artwork and decided to apply Spanish law to the case rather than California law.
“It immediately made sense to me that this was a unique opportunity to correct a historical injustice and make sure that something like this doesn’t happen again,” Gabriel told the Los Angeles Times about introducing AB 2867 after the court ruling earlier this year. “Respectfully, we think that the 9th Circuit got it wrong, and this law is going to make that crystal clear.”
David Cassirer, the only surviving member of the Cassirer family, said in a statement that his father “would have been terribly disappointed in the recent ruling by the American courts, allowing Spain, through its national museum, to keep the Pissarro painting stolen by the Nazis from his beloved grandmother, Lilly.”
“But he would be so happy, and grateful, that the California legislature is taking the necessary steps to apply California’s laws ensuring the return of looted art to its rightful owners,” he noted.
California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis (D) supported Gabriel’s bill and applauded its effort to “empower California families to retrieve stolen and looted property that is rightfully theirs.”
“The decades-long effort to return confiscated property to Jewish families is morally courageous,” he said.
The post California Lawmaker Introduces Legislation to Help Restitution of Property Stolen During Holocaust first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with government officials in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Donald Trump on Saturday of lying when the US president said during his Gulf tour this week that he wanted peace in the region.
On the contrary, said Khamenei, the United States uses its power to give “10-ton bombs to the Zionist (Israeli) regime to drop on the heads of Gaza’s children.”
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates on Friday that Iran had to move quickly on a US proposal for its nuclear program or “something bad’s going to happen.”
His remarks, said Khamenei, “aren’t even worth responding to.” They are an “embarrassment to the speaker and the American people,” Khamenei added.
“Undoubtedly, the source of corruption, war, and conflict in this region is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumor that must be uprooted; it will be uprooted,” he said at an event at a religious center in Tehran, according to state media.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats.
“Which should we believe?” Pezeshkian said at a naval event in Tehran. “On the one hand, he speaks of peace and on the other, he threatens with the most advanced tools of mass killing.”
Tehran would continue Iran-US nuclear talks but is not afraid of threats. “We are not seeking war,” Pezeshkian said.
While Trump said on Friday that Iran had a US proposal about its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received any such proposal. “There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes…” he said.
Araqchi warned on Saturday that Washington’s constant change of stance prolongs nuclear talks, state TV reported.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that America repeatedly defines a new framework for negotiations that prolongs the process,” the broadcast quoted Araqchi as saying.
Pezeshkian said Iran would not “back down from our legitimate rights”.
“Because we refuse to bow to bullying, they say we are source of instability in the region,” he said.
A fourth round of Iran-U.S. talks ended in Oman last Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.
The post Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday
Doha, Qatar. Photo: StellarD via Wikimedia Commons.
A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar’s Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.
He said the two sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions.”
Nono said Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was “no certain offer on the table.”
The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek “operational control” in some areas of the war-torn enclave.
The return to negotiations also comes after US President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.
The post Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
i24 News – Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct by United Nations investigators is nearing its final phase, Reuters reported on Friday citing sources from the international court.
Khan allegedly forced sexual intercourse upon a member of staff on multiple occasions, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, linking the allegations to Khan’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.
A statement is expected later today announcing that Khan is going on administrative leave, according to a source in the prosecutor’s office.
The post Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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