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Daybreak: Rightful Ownership

Holocaust property, settlement vs. suburb, and more in the news

by
Hadara Graubart
June 30, 2009

• Representatives of 46 countries at the Prague Holocaust Era Assets Conference have issued the Terezin Declaration, a document aimed at easing the process of property restitution. [JTA]
• Medical students in Romania are suspected of buying bones from a Holocaust mass grave for educational use. [EJP]
• Israeli settlement Modiin Illit exemplifies the conflict over a potential construction freeze: With a population of 40,000, it’s essentially a suburb of Jerusalem, and needs growth to function accordingly; on the other hand, it has defied a court order to move its border fence, which impinges on Palestinian land. [WPost]
• Israel’s Supreme Court has ruled that a bakery run by a Messianic Jew may be certified kosher despite the opinion of the local Chief Rabbi that “an apostate Jew could not be trusted to adhere to the laws of kashrut.” [JPost]
• Feeling a tad bit vindictive? Take a look at the Madoffs’ schmancy soon-to-be-former home. [NY Daily News]

Hadara Graubart was formerly a writer and editor for Tablet Magazine.