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Yad Vashem denounces Poland’s demanded additions to Israeli student trips as ‘inappropriate’
(JTA) — When Israel and Poland agreed to resume Israeli youth trips to Polish Holocaust sites last month, their agreement stipulated that new sites be added to the students’ itineraries, including some that document Nazi crimes against non-Jewish Poles. Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial and history authority, is now calling those additions “inappropriate” and “problematic.”
In statements to Haaretz published on Monday, leading historians condemned the development, arguing that the new trip rules advance what they call Poland’s track record of obscuring its Holocaust record.
The new list of required sites for students to see are “dubious at best and controversial at worst,” said Havi Dreifuss, a Tel Aviv University history professor affiliated with Yad Vashem. She added that some of the sites “ignore documented aspects of Poles’ involvement in the murder of Jews,” or even “glorify Poles who were involved up to their necks in the murder of Jews.”
“What you have there is the ‘Polish wish-list’ of where Israeli youth should go,” said Jan Grabowski, a professor who studies Polish-Jewish Holocaust history and has been prosecuted in Poland over some of his research conclusions. “It reads like a Holocaust denier’s dream.”
Youth trips to Holocaust sites in Poland have long been part of a longstanding educational program in Israel. They were suspended last year amid a series of diplomatic spats between Poland and Israel fueled mostly by a push by Poland’s right-wing government to highlight German crimes against Poles during World War II. Historians around the world have argued that the campaign — which included multiple laws that drew harsh responses from Jerusalem — has also sought to downplay Polish crimes against local Jews before, during and after the Holocaust.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was critical of those recent Polish laws, but since assembling the most right-wing government in Israel’s history earlier this year, lawmakers have pushed for renewing ties. After meeting with his Polish counterpart last month, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen declared that the countries’ “crisis” in relations was over. Cohen and Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau signed an agreement stating that Israeli youth trips to Holocaust sites in Poland would resume, pending approval in the Knesset, or Israel’s parliament. Poland also agreed to reinstate its ambassador to Israel.
Soon after the signing, Poland’s deputy foreign minister noted in a statement that Israeli students would learn on the trips “what [Poland] as a country and as a nation have been through and what we have survived.” The Israeli students will also meet with Polish youths, Paweł Jabłoński added, “to combat negative stereotypes that exist in Israel regarding Poland.”
Now details are being released to the public, Haaretz reported. In addition to touring Jewish-specific sites, students will also be required to visit at least one site per trip related to “other crimes of World War II,” which include museums focused on Nazi crimes against non-Jewish Poles.
Included in the list of additional sites is the Markowa Ulma-Family Museum of Poles Who Saved Jews in World War II —which tells the story of a Polish family who were killed for hiding eight Jews in their house. Other museums that highlight the “forsaken” or “doomed” Polish soldiers who rebelled against Communist forces in the aftermath of the war. Grabowski said that many of those soldiers were “ruthless murderers of Jews during and after the war.”
Israel’s education ministry and Yad Vashem both said that they have not agreed to modify the trips.
“Every tour that took place in the past can take place exactly as it was and with no changes in the future. The Poles have asked to add sites to the list, yet there is no such commitment to tour one site or another,” the ministry wrote in a statement to Haaretz.
Yad Vashem wrote that students sent through its programs “will not visit any site that is suspected of twisting the history of the Holocaust or promoting a historically incorrect narrative.”
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Italy Says It Stands Ready to Train Police in Gaza
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks during an interview with Reuters in Rome, Italy, April 15, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
Italy stands ready to help train police forces in Gaza and elsewhere in the Palestinian territories, its foreign minister said on Monday, as Rome aims to play a role in stabilizing the Middle East.
“We are ready to train a new Gaza police force, and we are also ready to train a Palestinian police force,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told a news conference in Rome.
He confirmed that Rome was ready to participate as an observer in US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace initiative, and Italy had been invited to attend a meeting of the group this week in Washington.
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Alleged Bondi Beach Gunman Makes First Court Appearance
People stand near flowers laid as a tribute at Bondi Beach to honor the victims of a mass shooting that targeted a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach on Sunday, in Sydney, Australia, Dec. 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Flavio Brancaleone
A man accused of opening fire on a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s famed Bondi Beach in an attack that killed 15 people appeared in court for the first time on Monday, Australian media reported.
Naveed Akram, 24, faces 59 charges over the Dec. 14 attack, including 15 counts of murder, 40 counts of wounding with intent to murder, and a terror offense.
Police allege he carried out the mass shooting with his father Sajid, 50, who was shot dead at the scene.
During a brief status mention at a Sydney court on Monday, Akram appeared via video link from Goulburn Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison southwest of Sydney, where he is being held on remand, media reported.
Akram wore prison greens and sat mostly in silence during the proceedings. He spoke only to acknowledge that he heard a discussion about extending non-publication orders for the details of the victims.
Outside court, Akram’s lawyer Ben Archbold said his client was doing “as well as he can be” given the “very onerous conditions” in prison.
Archbold said it was too early to say how Akram would plead and that he had not discussed details of the alleged attack with him.
“I haven’t spoken to him about the attack in that regard,” he told reporters.
“All that we’re doing at the moment is starting the process … we’re waiting for the brief to be served; there’s nothing more I can say.”
Archbold added that he had visited Akram in prison.
“He’s just a client, and he’s a client that needs to be represented. And we don’t let our personal view get in the way of our professional obligations. The matter has been adjourned; I have nothing more to say.”
The case is expected to return to court in April.
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Israel Post-War Economy to Grow Further in 2026 After 3.1% Gain in 2025
Israeli national flags flutter near office towers at a business park also housing high tech companies, at Ofer Park in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 27, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Israel‘s economy grew 3.1% in 2025, official data showed on Monday, rebounding from a 1% pace in 2024, with growth expected to accelerate sharply as long as a fragile Gaza ceasefire holds.
Growth last year was led by a 7.1% rise in investment and a 5.9% gain in exports, along with a modest uptick in consumer spending. Heavy state expenditure during the two-year Gaza war, particularly on defense, gave an added boost to the economy, economists noted.
“The economy is recovering,” said Yonie Fanning, chief strategist at Mizrahi Tefahot Bank. “The indications for the first quarter of 2026 are also positive – you see that in the trade balance data, etc. So, I think it … sets the basis for continued recovery.”
Israel‘s economy in 2025 outpaced an OECD average of 1.7% and 2% growth in the United States. It also was above the Bank of Israel‘s estimate of 2.8%. The central bank projects a 5.2% growth spurt this year.
“What you’re seeing now is excess demand coming after the war, which is coupled with an increase of supply also, for example, in real estate. And so, you see that in investment, and you should see that more going forward in 2026,” Fanning said.
Per capita growth was 1.7% in 2025.
In the fourth quarter, gross domestic product grew an annualized 4.0% from the prior quarter, powered by a 33% jump in exports following an October ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
“This is relatively robust print, especially the business sector activity, impacted by a strong contribution from net exports,” said Leader Capital Markets Chief Economist Jonathan Katz.
A Reuters poll of economists had forecast an annualized 2.6% rate in the final three months of 2025.
Third-quarter GDP was revised to an annualized rise of 12.7% from a prior estimate of 11.1%.
The GDP data follow data published on Sunday showing Israel‘s annual inflation rate eased to 1.8% in January – its lowest level since June 2021 – from 2.6% in December, increasing pressure on the Bank of Israel to lower short-term interest rates next week for a third straight meeting.
Following the inflation data, “most people [in the market] don’t expect it to stay on hold,” Fanning said.
The shekel was flat at 3.09 per dollar, close to a 30-year peak hit earlier in February. Tel Aviv share indices gained as much as 0.3%.