‘Israel’ and Poland expel diplomats in dispute over law on property stolen by Nazis
Occupied Palestine (QNN)- A Polish law that will make it harder for Jewish people to recover property lost during and after World War Two has triggered a diplomatic crisis, with the occupation state recalling its ambassador to Poland and branding the law “anti-Semitic”.
The legislation relates to claims on property stolen by Nazi Germany, then seized by Poland’s communist regime. The law sets a 30-year limit on challenges to such confiscations.
‘Israel’ said on Saturday that it was recalling its top diplomat in Poland, chargé d’affaires Tal Ben-Ari Yaalon, for an “indefinite period” and that its new ambassador would not be coming either.
The Israeli foreign minister, Yair Lapid, also said he “recommends that the Polish ambassador to Israel [Marek Magierowski] prolong his vacation in his country,” and uses his time to “explain to the Polish people … how we [Israelis] will not tolerate contempt for the memory of the victims and the memory of the Holocaust.”
“The days of Poles harming Jews without consequence have passed and will not return,” Lapid said.
“It will not end here. We are holding discussions with the Americans to coordinate our future response,” Lapid added.
The Polish foreign ministry replied saying: “We will take appropriate diplomatic and political action, taking into account the principle of reciprocity”.
And Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki complained of “growing hatred towards Poland and Polish citizens in Israel”, while promising to “safely bring back home the children of Poland’s ambassador to Israel”.
The law imposes a 30-year moratorium on property claims, ruling out any further WW2-era or communist-period cases.
‘Israel’ has a similar law itself, in which it denies native Palestinians, who were expelled during the Nakbah when ‘Israel’ was created, their ownership right of properties that they forcefully left. The law states that “all the lands owned by the state of Israel will remain in state ownership, and will not be sold or given to anyone”.
