World news-roundup: Dutch urged to help Iranian grandmother facing death penalty

Country: Netherlands

Jewish groups have asked the Dutch government to step in and grant an Iranian Jewish grandmother refugee status, because she will be killed if she goes back. The 60-year old woman was found guilty in absentia of crimes against the state in 2013 for helping abused women leave their husbands.

Country: Portugal

A push by Portugal to entice the latter day descendants of Portuguese Jews kicked out of the country during the Inquisition 500 years ago seems to be working. The number of Sephardi Jews seeking citizenship in 2017 was 12,000, six times higher than it was in 2016. Portugal enacted the naturalisation law in 2015.

Country: Iceland

Almost 500 doctors in Iceland have come out in support of lawmakers’ proposed ban on male non-medical circumcision under the age of 16. Physicians said there were ‘very few’ medical benefits to the procedure at a young age and cited the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki ethical principles.

Country: Poland

A Polish senator has been suspended for posting a Nazi-propaganda video on Facebook which showed violence towards Jews being carried out over a klezmer soundtrack. Waldemar Bonkowski is a member of the ruling Law and Justice Party. The incident follows Jewish outrage over Poland’s Holocaust Law.