Michael Kuttner: Former United Kingdom Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is reported as having called the American Administration’s total pullout from Afghanistan as imbecilic.
Ariel Bulshtein: Polish diplomat Jakub Kumoch says that contrary to the Israeli foreign minister's claims, the statute of limitations adopted by his government on property confiscated during World War II was never intended to harm Jews.
Israel’s leadership has taken significant diplomatic action and has issued harsh condemnations against Poland after a law limiting the ability of Holocaust survivors and descendants of Holocaust victims to reclaim their property passed through the final stage of legislation.
The Polish parliament approved on Wednesday a law limiting the ability of Holocaust survivors and descendants of Holocaust victims to reclaim their property, prompting Israeli officials to take action and issue harsh condemnations.
“Difficult chapters in Polish-Jewish history are discussed, including the Holocaust and the antisemitic campaign launched by the Communist authorities in March 1968,” said the POLIN museum.
The dispute between Israel and Poland over an amendment to a Polish law that would hinder Holocaust victims’ ability to claim their property in the country escalated Sunday when both countries summoned each other’s ambassadors for a dressing down.
Israel's Foreign Minister Yair Lapid’s attack on Poland’s amended Code of Administrative Procedure that relates to reparations for Jewish victims of the Holocaust is “indicative of ignorance of the facts and the Polish law,” Poland’s Foreign Ministry charged.
The British Government has strongly reaffirmed its support for Holocaust-era property restitution in Poland and other countries, in reply to a question asked in the House of Lords by Baroness Ruth Deech.
