Speed Reads

Not-so-free speech

Poland's Senate approves controversial Holocaust bill, clearing it for presidential signature

Disregarding objections from the U.S. and Israel, Poland's Senate passed a controversial bill on Thursday that criminalizes some speech about the Holocaust, setting jail sentences of up to three years for people who falsely attribute Nazi crimes during World War II to Poland or Polish people. The 57-23 vote sends the bill to President Andrzej Duda, who says he will sign it. Poland's conservative Law and Justice Party proposed the measure, saying it will defend Poland's good name; Israel says it is an attempt to whitewash the role some Poles played in the mass murder of Jews during the Holocaust.