An outcry following an Israel Hayom report on a local Jewish leader in Latvia led to the shelving of a bill that deals with the restitution of Holocaust-era Jewish property in Latvia.
During a heated debate last week on the various provisions of the bill, a member of the Latvian parliament mentioned the Israel Hayom report on accusations against a prominent member of the Jewish community in Latvia, Gita Umanovska, who allegedly served as a spy for the Soviet KGB in the 1980s.
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The lawmaker also presented what he said was her "spy card" in the Latvian parliament.
"She supported the occupation by the Soviet Union, and now she will get compensation for the property that was taken by the Soviet Union. This is like giving the Gestapo money for property taken from Nazi victims," he said.
His comments were received with applause and the bill was taken off the current docket. The parliament is now expected to take it up for debate only in October at the earliest.
A source in the Latvian Jewish community said that Umanovska has published a study on Jewish women who worked as prostitutes in Riga in the 1930s, and her name was recently involved in an ultimately fruitless attempt to restore some 270 Jewish properties that were stolen in 1940, an issue that is considered politically volatile.
"It didn't come as a big shock [that she may have been a spy]. Some thought it could happen, but no one is rushing to talk about it," a Jewish community official told Israel Hayom.
Another official said that Umanovska was not considered a Jew under Jewish law, "which makes her case less interesting [to us]."
When contacted by Israel Hayom, Umanovska said, "I'm not interested in discussing this with journalists."
