Croatian President Stipe Mesic was greeted with trumpets in the Knesset today, where he came to publicly ask forgiveness for his country\'s Holocaust crimes against the Jewish People. \"Croatia and its President,\" Mesic said, \"are aware of the tragedy that the Jewish people experienced, and know and regret that some of the victims were from the area controlled by Croatia.\" He said that Croatia would act to bring to justice all war criminals. Mesic also took the opportunity to call for a Palestinian state.
Prime Minister Sharon praised Mesic for giving the order to teach the lessons of the Holocaust in his country, and said, \"The Jewish Nation will forever remember the 30,000 Croatian Jews [80% of the Jewish population there] who were killed with tremendous cruelty during the Holocaust by Croatian collaborators with the Nazis.\"
Shinui Party leader MK Tommy Lapid responded from the Knesset, and said, \"As a little boy of the Holocaust, beaten and pursued, in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia, I never dreamt that I would one day stand in the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem and greet the Croatian president on his official visit to Israel. I admit that I was not sure whether to assume this mission upon myself, but after you, Mr. President, apologized to the Israeli president for the bitter fate of Croatian Jewry, and after you spoke here and condemned these terrible crimes of the Ustachi towards the Jews in your land, it is fitting that I arise and bless you for your efforts to open a new page in the relations between our nations.\"
Prime Minister Sharon praised Mesic for giving the order to teach the lessons of the Holocaust in his country, and said, \"The Jewish Nation will forever remember the 30,000 Croatian Jews [80% of the Jewish population there] who were killed with tremendous cruelty during the Holocaust by Croatian collaborators with the Nazis.\"
Shinui Party leader MK Tommy Lapid responded from the Knesset, and said, \"As a little boy of the Holocaust, beaten and pursued, in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia, I never dreamt that I would one day stand in the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem and greet the Croatian president on his official visit to Israel. I admit that I was not sure whether to assume this mission upon myself, but after you, Mr. President, apologized to the Israeli president for the bitter fate of Croatian Jewry, and after you spoke here and condemned these terrible crimes of the Ustachi towards the Jews in your land, it is fitting that I arise and bless you for your efforts to open a new page in the relations between our nations.\"
