Poland is not recalling its ambassador, Marek Magierowski, from Israel despite the latter's outrage over disputable legislation which limits the restitution claims of the Jewish community in Poland, and the related recall of Israel's top diplomat to Poland, Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski said on Monday
WARSAW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th August, 2021) Poland is not recalling its ambassador, Marek Magierowski, from Israel despite the latter's outrage over disputable legislation which limits the restitution claims of the Jewish community in Poland, and the related recall of Israel's top diplomat to Poland, Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski said on Monday.
On Saturday, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid ordered Alexander Ben Zvi, the country's ambassador in Warsaw, to return, following a decision of Polish President Andrzej Duda to sign a bill imposing a 30-year limit on property claims, many of which belonged to Polish Jews before World War II and were regained from the Nazis afterward by the Communist government. Israel denounced the move, claiming the legislation to be "anti-Semitic."
"Ambassador Magierowski remains our ambassador to Israel. There were no decisions to recall him," Jablonski said on the Polish Radio, adding that the government will announce its decisions regarding relations with Israel in the coming days.
Magierowski is in Poland on a vacation. The Polish Foreign Ministry said after a backlash that the diplomat would stay in Poland until further notice. It criticized Israel for downgrading the diplomatic relations and promised to respond in the coming days based on the "principle of symmetry."
The 30-year period stipulated by the bill in question limits the rights of claimants, including Jews, to challenge administrative decisions on properties upon its expiration. While the United States and Israel claim the legislation targets Jewish property rights in Poland, Duda denies such allegations.
