Jews who had to leave Greece during World War II can now reclaim their Greek citizenship. This is the result of an amendment to the new foreign resident law. The amendment only covers Jews born in or before 1945 (about 300-350) and not their descendants who will have to make applications for citizenship.
Justice Minister Harry Kastanidis defended said: "It is an honor to Greece [to have these people requesting their citizenship back], an honor that Greece would be obligated to reinstate their citizenship no questions asked."
The amendment was opposed by the anti-Semitic LAOS Party and the Communist Party. The latter is fervently opposed to warming ties between Jerusalem and Athens that are calculated to promote "imperialistic plans regarding the natural gas reserves"
The Jews belong to two major categories: Jews who escaped to Turkey during World War II and refused summons to join the government in exile's armed forces in Egypt and Jews who fought on the Communist side in the Greek Civil War between 1946 to 1951 and then went to Israel to escape retribution.
In another sign of the current honeymoon the Israeli Press Association is holding its meeting in Salonika that had a thriving Jewish community of 50,000 till the holocaust.