Israeli foreign minister calls Poland’s government ‘anti-democratic’

The tone is getting sharper in a diplomatic dispute between Israel and Poland, with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid calling the Warsaw government “anti-democratic” in a statement on Sunday evening.

At issue is a change in Polish administrative law.

“Gone are the days when Poles harmed Jews without consequence,” the statement said. “We do not fear antisemitic threats, and have no intention of turning a blind eye to the shameful conduct of the anti-democratic Polish government.”

Lapid had recalled the envoy of the Israeli embassy in Warsaw on Saturday evening for open-ended consultations and announced that Israel’s new ambassador to Poland, who was due to arrive in Warsaw in the coming days, would not travel to Poland.

The Polish ambassador to Israel was advised not to return to Israel after his current home leave.

The background to the dispute is an amendment to Polish administrative law passed last week, under which administrative decisions can no longer be challenged in court after 30 years. Israel fears that this will put an end to compensation for the expropriation of Jews during the Holocaust.

The national conservative Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki had reacted sharply to the Israeli criticism on his Facebook page. He also announced that measures had been taken for the safe return of the Polish ambassador’s children to Poland. The reason for this was the “rise of hatred against Poles” in Israel, he said on the Polish state television channel TVP.