The author of one of the articles, who interviewed Sanader, notes that the two countries should establish closer ties and that Sanader has confirmed the intention to arrest Croatian citizen Milivoj Asner, who was located by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Croatia last year, after which he escaped to Austria.
Sanader told The Jerusalem Post that the main purpose of the visit was the strengthening of overall bilateral relations, and stressed that Israel and Croatia could support one another in multilateral organisations, and should do so in the European Union and the United Nations.
Commenting on the case of the 92-year-old Milivoj Asner, whom the Simon Wiesenthal Centre identified as a participant in deportations of hundreds of Serbs, Jews and Roma to concentration camps, and who was last reported to be in Austria, Sanader said that Croatia's position was clear. "Our position is very firm. The judiciary is working on that case, but Asner's whereabouts are not known and we must establish them," Sanader said.
The author of the other article is the head of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, Efraim Zuroff, who recalls that relations between the two countries are constantly improving and adds that a visit by Croatia's prime minister was unimaginable ten years ago. Zuroff notes that Croatia has done a lot recently to rectify some mistakes that were made as part of the policy pursued at the beginning of the country's independence, including the removal of monuments to members of the Ustasha movement. He adds, however, that a lot remains to be done regarding both the past and current relations.
Zuroff indirectly criticises Croatian authorities for failing to arrest Asner after he was identified by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, and claims that Asner is in Klagenfurt, Austria, from where he is sending messages that he did nothing wrong and that he would do again everything he did to Serbs and Jews, whom he considers enemies of Croatia.