Israeli leader pledges funds for museum for Jewish WWII vets

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner, Pool)

JERUSALEM – Israel's prime minister says his government will allocate the necessary funds to complete the long-promised establishment of a museum honoring Jewish World War II veterans.

Benjamin Netanyahu says Sunday he has "immense respect" for the Jewish fighters and they "deserve" a memorial.

The project has been bogged down in bureaucratic stalemate for years as donor money dried up. The museum appeared doomed when Netanyahu's government did not renew its matching funds commitment four years ago.

The story of the 1.5 million Jews who fought the Nazis — and the 250,000 who died in battle — has long been lost in Israel amid the larger tragedy of the Holocaust and the Nazi genocide of Europe's Jews. The museum aims to rectify that oversight while some of the fighters are still alive.