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This Romanian party called the Holocaust a ‘minor topic.’ Israel’s envoy just met with its leader.
(JTA) — Israel’s ambassador to Romania met with the leader of a right-wing political party there that Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, has denounced over past comments about the genocide and World War II.
On Monday, Ambassador Reuven Azar met in Bucharest with George Simion, president of the AUR party, and Yossi Dagan, the chairman of the Samaria Regional Council, an organization of Israeli settler leaders.
Some of AUR’s leaders have defended the record of historical figures who served in the regime of Romanian dictator Ion Antonescu — an ally of Hitler — or were part of the fiercely antisemitic Iron Guard, a revolutionary fascist movement. Last year, the nationalist AUR party issued a statement calling Holocaust education, which had been recently mandated in Romanian high schools, a “minor topic.”
Israel’s ambassador to Romania at the time, David Saranga, argued that the statement fell under the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism. “We are Christians, so we can’t be antisemites,” AUR member Claudiu Tarziu wrote in response.
Since then, Israel’s government has changed. According to the Times of Israel, lawmakers in the current, historically right-wing government have expressed a desire to rekindle relations with far-right governments across Europe.
Israel’s foreign ministry told the Times of Israel that it agreed to meet with Simion only after his party agreed to four things: that Romania holds responsibility for Jews who were killed in territory it held during World War II; that all parties should adopt the IHRA antisemitism definition; that the the glorification of war criminals, including Antonescu, should be condemned; and that Holocaust education should receive robust support.
Simion issued a statement that hit on those topics but did not support the government’s current Holocaust history curriculum, according to the Times of Israel. And instead of outright condemning Antonescu and Iron Guard figures, Simion wrote, “Romanian criminal legislation punishes severely any manifestations of support … for the war criminals or the members of the Iron Guard who took part to the Holocaust, including Ion Antonescu.”
Yad Vashem did not support Monday’s meeting. “In July, we notified the Foreign Ministry that in our view, the conditions justifying a meeting with the AUR party were not met,” the museum said in a statement. “Over the past few weeks, the Foreign Ministry hasn’t asked again for our opinion and hasn’t updated us on developments.”
Simion also accepted Dagan’s invitation to visit the West Bank. Israel’s i24 news channel reported that Dagan had worked with the foreign ministry for months to arrange the meeting.
Last fall, Israel’s foreign ministry said that it did not have any relations with AUR, after a group of lawmakers from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party attended a conference hosted by the political party. And earlier this month, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen — who this week was chided after disclosing a meeting with his Libyan counterpart, sparking a crisis there — said a detente with the AUR party was “fake news.”
AUR shocked analysts in a 2020 election, earning 9% of the national vote by capitalizing on anger in the wake of COVID-19 lockdowns. They are expected to grow in influence. A prominent figure in the party drew outrage — and distancing from Simion — after he praised an antisemitic fascist Romanian leader from the 1930s on primetime TV last year..
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The post This Romanian party called the Holocaust a ‘minor topic.’ Israel’s envoy just met with its leader. appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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FBI Investigating ‘Targeted Terror Attack’ in Boulder, Colorado, Director Says
FILE PHOTO: FBI Director Kash Patel testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on President Trump’s proposed budget request for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
FBI Director Kash Patel said on Sunday the agency was aware of and fully investigating a targeted terror attack in Boulder, Colorado.
While he did not provide further details, Patel said in a social media post: “Our agents and local law enforcement are on the scene already, and we will share updates as more information becomes available.”
According to CBS News, which cited witnesses at the scene, a suspect attacked people with Molotov cocktails who were participating in a walk to remember the Israeli hostages who remain in Gaza.
The Boulder Police Department said it was responding to a report of an attack in the city involving several victims. It has not released further details but a press conference was expected at 4 p.m. Mountain Time (2200 GMT).
The attack comes just weeks after a Chicago-born man was arrested in the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington, D.C. Someone opened fire on a group of people leaving an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee, an advocacy group that fights antisemitism and supports Israel.
The shooting fueled polarization in the United States over the war in Gaza between supporters of Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
The post FBI Investigating ‘Targeted Terror Attack’ in Boulder, Colorado, Director Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Terrorist Responsible for Death of 21 Soldiers Eliminated
An Israeli F-35I “Adir” fighter jet. Photo: IDF
i24 News – Khalil Abd al-Nasser Mohammed Khatib, the terrorist who commanded the terrorist cell that killed 21 soldiers in the southern Gaza Strip on January 22, 2024, was killed by an Israeli airstrike, the IDF said on Sunday.
In a joint operation between the military and the Shin Bet security agency, the terrorist was spotted in a reconnaissance mission. The troops called up an aircraft to target him, and he was eliminated.
Khatib planned and took part in many other terrorist plots against Israeli soldiers.
i24NEWS’ Hebrew channel interviewed Dor Almog, the sole survivor of the mass casualty disaster, who was informed on live TV about the death of the commander responsible for the killing his brothers-in-arms.
“I was sure this day would come – I was a soldier and I know what happens at the end,” said Almog. “The IDF will do everything to bring back the abductees and to topple Hamas, to the last one man.”
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Stanley Fischer, Former Fed Vice Chair and Bank of Israel Chief, Dies at 81
FILE PHOTO: Vice Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve System Stanley Fischer arrives to hear Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney delivering the Michel Camdessus Central Banking Lecture at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, U.S., September 18, 2017. Photo: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo
Stanley Fischer, who helped shape modern economic theory during a career that included heading the Bank of Israel and serving as vice chair of the US Federal Reserve, has died at the age of 81.
The Bank of Israel said he died on Saturday night but did not give a cause of death. Fischer was born in Zambia and had dual US-Israeli citizenship.
As an academic at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Fischer trained many of the people who went on to be top central bankers, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as well as Mario Draghi, the former European Central Bank president.
Fischer served as chief economist at the World Bank, and first deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund during the Asian financial crisis and was then vice chairman at Citigroup from 2002 to 2005.
During an eight-year stint as Israel’s central bank chief from 2005-2013, Fischer helped the country weather the 2008 global financial crisis with minimal economic damage, elevating Israel’s economy on the global stage, while creating a monetary policy committee to decide on interest rates like in other advanced economies.
He was vice chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2017 and served as a director at Bank Hapoalim in 2020 and 2021.
Current Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron praised Fischer’s contribution to the Bank of Israel and to advancing Israel’s economy as “truly significant.”
The soft-spoken Fischer – who played a role in Israel’s economic stabilization plan in 1985 during a period of hyperinflation – was chosen by then Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as central bank chief.
Netanyahu, now prime minister, called Fischer a “great Zionist” for leaving the United States and moving to Israel to take on the top job at Israel’s central bank.
“He was an outstanding economist. In the framework of his role as governor, he greatly contributed to the Israeli economy, especially to the return of stability during the global economic crisis,” Netanyahu said, adding that Stanley – as he was known in Israel – proudly represented Israel and its economy worldwide.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also paid tribute.
“He played a huge role in strengthening Israel’s economy, its remarkable resilience, and its strong reputation around the world,” Herzog said. “He was a world-class professional, a man of integrity, with a heart of gold. A true lover of peace.”
The post Stanley Fischer, Former Fed Vice Chair and Bank of Israel Chief, Dies at 81 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.