Connect with us

RSS

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.

Continue Reading

RSS

Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.

The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.

They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.

Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.

Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.

Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.

The post Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Continue Reading

RSS

Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip

Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS

i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.

The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.

Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.

He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.

The post Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Continue Reading

RSS

Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS

i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.

Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.

Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.

Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.

Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.

The post Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Continue Reading

Copyright © 2017 - 2023 Jewish Post & News