Poland keeps ambassador at home amid dispute with Israel

By VANESSA GERA
Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s government says its ambassador to Israel will remain in Poland until further notice. The move comes after Israel downgraded diplomatic ties with Warsaw and strongly criticized a new Polish law that restricts the rights of Holocaust survivors and others to reclaim property seized by the country’s former communist regime. Meanwhile, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Monday defended the new legislation, saying that it will end a period of criminal abuse in Poland. The spat erupted after Poland’s president’s signed the new law on Saturday despite heavy pressure not to by the United States government and warnings from Israel that it would harm ties.