Israel summons Polish ambassador over Holocaust law

Israel’s foreign ministry summoned the Polish ambassador, Marek Magierowski, on Sunday over a new law that Israelis fear would block compensation claims for World War II property seized by Nazi forces.

The amendment to Polish law, which sets a 30-year deadline for Jews to recover property seized by Nazi forces and then kept by post-war Communist rulers, has met with strong reaction in Israel.

According to its critics, it essentially prevents any new World War II-era compensation claims or appeals of past decisions. 

Bix Aliu, charge d’affaires at the US Embassy in Warsaw, expressed concern over the draft amendment in a letter to the Polish parliament. 

The US State Department spokesman Ned Price has called on Poland to halt work on an amendment to the administration procedure code, calling the move a “step in the wrong direction” for restitution.

Property restitution has long been a sensitive point in Poland’s relations with Israel.

In 2018, the Polish government was forced to back down and remove parts of a Holocaust law that imposed jail terms on people who suggested the nation was complicit in Nazi crimes, which had angered the United States and Israel. 

(Mateusz Kucharczyk | EURACTIV.pl)