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New California Law Helps Holocaust Survivors, Their Families Reclaim Nazi-Looted Art
A close-up view of the painting “Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon. Effect of Rain” by Camille Pissarro. Photo: public domain
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law on Monday legislation that will give Holocaust survivors and their families more opportunities to reclaim art and other personal property looted or stolen by Nazis during the Holocaust.
The signing of Assembly Bill (AB) 2867, introduced by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, took place at the Holocaust Museum LA.
“For survivors of the Holocaust and their families, the fight to take back ownership of art and other personal items stolen by the Nazis continues to traumatize those who have already gone through the unimaginable,” Newsom said in a released statement. “It is both a moral and legal imperative that these valuable and sentimental pieces be returned to their rightful owners, and I am proud to strengthen California’s laws to help secure justice for families.”
Gabriel co-chairs the California Legislative Jewish Caucus. His legislation was inspired by a ruling in January by the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that allowed a Spanish museum to maintain possession of a famous 1897 Camille Pissarro oil painting that Nazis stole from a Jewish woman named Lilly Cassirer Neubauer during the Holocaust.
Her family bought the Pissarro painting in 1900 directly from the artist’s main agent and she inherited it in 1926. In 1939, she was forced to sell the painting for $360, which was below its market value, to a Nazi art dealer in order to obtain visas to escape from Germany with her husband, according to court documents. After the war, she attempted to recover the painting in Germany, but its whereabouts were unknown.
The painting changed ownership many times and was sold to the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid in 1993. The Cassirer family has attempted to regain ownership of the painting — titled “Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon. Effect of Rain” — but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the museum is not obligated to return the artwork to Cassirer’s heirs in California, and applied Spanish law to the case as opposed to California law.
The new AB 2867 mandates that California law must apply in lawsuits involving artwork or other personal property that was stolen or looted during the Holocaust due to political persecution, like in the case involving the Cassirer family. The legislation builds on existing California law that aids the state’s residents in recovering stolen property, including property stolen during the Holocaust.
Gabriel said the signing of AB 2867 “is a victory for morality and justice, and will ensure that California continues to stand on the right side of history.”
“For families in California, AB 2867 will go a long way to eliminate the incentive from governments, museums, and collectors to distort and deny the true horrors of the Holocaust in order to hold onto Nazi loot,” said Sam Dubbin, the attorney for the Cassirer family. “This new law is essential for truth, history, and justice — for the Cassirer family and the future cases as well. This law sends a clear message from the people of California to all museums and governments — including the government of Spain — that museums should have no right to hold stolen art.”
The post New California Law Helps Holocaust Survivors, Their Families Reclaim Nazi-Looted Art first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
The Israeli army said on Saturday that a missile fired from Yemen towards Israeli territory had been “most likely successfully intercepted,” while Yemen’s Houthi forces claimed responsibility for the launch.
Israel has threatened Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement – which has been attacking Israel in what it says is solidarity with Gaza – with a naval and air blockade if its attacks on Israel persist.
The Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group was responsible for Saturday’s attack, adding that it fired a missile towards the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
Since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.
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Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel
People attend the funeral procession of Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 28, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Large crowds of mourners dressed in black lined streets in Iran’s capital Tehran as the country held a funeral on Saturday for top military commanders, nuclear scientists and some of the civilians killed during this month’s aerial war with Israel.
At least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among those mourned at the funeral, according to state media, including armed forces chief Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards commander General Hossein Salami, and Guards Aerospace Force chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Their coffins were driven into Tehran’s Azadi Square adorned with their photos and national flags, as crowds waved flags and some reached out to touch the caskets and throw rose petals onto them. State-run Press TV showed an image of ballistic missiles on display.
Mass prayers were later held in the square.
State TV said the funeral, dubbed the “procession of the Martyrs of Power,” was held for a total of 60 people killed in the war, including four women and four children.
In attendance were President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior figures including Ali Shamkhani, who was seriously wounded during the conflict and is an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as Khamenei’s son Mojtaba.
“Today, Iranians, through heroic resistance against two regimes armed with nuclear weapons, protected their honor and dignity, and look to the future prouder, more dignified, and more resolute than ever,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who also attended the funeral, said in a Telegram post.
There was no immediate statement from Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since the conflict began. In past funerals, he led prayers over the coffins of senior commanders ahead of public ceremonies broadcast on state television.
Israel launched the air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.
Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
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Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said it aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.
Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has said it has “no credible indication” of an active, coordinated weapons program in Iran.
Bagheri, Salami and Hajizadeh were killed on June 13, the first day of the war. Bagheri was being buried at the Behesht Zahra cemetery outside Tehran mid-afternoon on Saturday. Salami and Hajizadeh were due to be buried on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would consider bombing Iran again, while Khamenei, who has appeared in two pre-recorded video messages since the start of the war, has said Iran would respond to any future US attack by striking US military bases in the Middle East.
A senior Israeli military official said on Friday that Israel had delivered a “major blow” to Iran’s nuclear project. On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that Israel and the US “failed to achieve their stated objectives” in the war.
According to Iranian health ministry figures, 610 people were killed on the Iranian side in the war before a ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday. More than 4,700 were injured.
Activist news agency HRANA put the number of killed at 974, including 387 civilians.
Israel’s health ministry said 28 were killed in Israel and 3,238 injured.
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Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival
Revellers dance as Avril Lavigne performs on the Other Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
i24 News – Chants of “death to the IDF” were heard during the English Glastonbury music festival on Saturday ahead of the appearance of the pro-Palestinian Irish rappers Kneecap.
One half of punk duo based Bob Vylan (who both use aliases to protect their privacy) shouted out during a section of their show “Death to the IDF” – the Israeli military. Videos posted on X (formerly Twitter) show the crowd responding to and repeating the cheer.
This comes after officials had petitioned the music festival to drop the band. The rap duo also expressed support for the following act, Kneecap, who the BCC refused to show live after one of its members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – better known by stage name Mo Chara – was charged with a terror offense.
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