Addressing a press conference, Kraus said that the decision called into question the functioning of the rule of law in Croatia and that it was the government's contribution to the destruction of the Croatian Jewish community as a whole, which he described as "the remains of the remains" of a once numerous community that had perished in the Holocaust.
According to Kraus, Bet Israel was registered in violation of Article 21 of the Legal Status of Religious Communities Act, which defines three conditions to be met by a community for it to be registered as a religious community -- it should exist for five years, have at least 500 members and a document explaining the basic tenets of its faith and how it is exercised.
By failing to respect the law, "the government is deliberately doing harm to the national budget and Croatian taxpayers," Kraus said. "In no transition country in Europe, other than Croatia, has the government interfered in the internal affairs of the Jewish community," he added.
Kraus concluded by saying that the Zagreb Jewish Community and the Coordinating Body would take all the necessary legal steps and would demand that Croatian government bodies respect the Religious Communities Act. He added that they would also request an opinion from relevant European institutions.
Bet Israel was registered last week following a rift in the Zagreb Jewish Community.