Israel condemns Poland restitution law, recalls top diplomat

By VANESSA GERA and JOSEF FEDERMAN
Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Israel is condemning Poland’s approval of a law that restricts the rights of former Polish property owners, including Holocaust survivors and their descendants, to reclaim property seized by the country’s former communist regime. Israel also has recalled its top diplomat in protest. The move came after Polish President Andrzej Duda signed legislation Saturday that addresses appropriations done by the communist government which ruled Poland from the end of World War II until 1989. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett calls Duda’s signing of the law “a shameful decision and disgraceful contempt for the memory of the Holocaust.” The law does not distinguish between Jewish and non-Jewish claimants, and Duda disputes it is aimed at Jews.