Israel Recalls Polish Envoy Over New Anti-Restitution Law

Israel recalled its ambassador to Poland after the approval of a law that will hamper the ability of Jewish Holocaust survivors and their descendants to recover property seized by the Nazis and held afterward by communist authorities. The bill passed by Poland’s parliament was signed by President Andrzej Duda on Saturday. The new law sets a statute of limitations on claims for the recovery of confiscated property to 30 years, which would invalidate any pending or new property claims dating to properties confiscated during the communist era. Poland does not have a compensation fund for people whose property was seized during World War II and its aftermath. Israel’s newly appointed ambassador to Poland on Saturday was told to remain in Israel and the Polish ambassador to Israel, who was vacationing out of the country, was told by Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid not to return to the country. “Poland today approved – not for the first time – an immoral, antisemitic law,” Lapid tweeted. The Polish Foreign Ministry warned Israel that its decision had “seriously damaged” the relationship between the two countries.