There was a little incident at the American Embassy in Warsaw on Saturday. Thousands of angry Polish nationalists turned up to protest against our country in what amounted to “one of the largest anti-Jewish street demonstrations in recent times.”

The precipitating cause of the demonstration is a 2017 law known alternatively as S.447 or the Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today (JUST) Act. It’s not a particularly complicated piece of legislation. It requires the Department of State to deliver a report to Congress on how well the 47 signatories to the 2009 Terezin Declaration are fulfilling their commitments “to compensate Holocaust survivors and their heirs for assets seized by Nazi Germany and post-war communist governments.”

I guess Poland doesn’t have much to report in the way of progress because they’re not taking kindly to this report. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki remarked that it is the Poles who deserve compensation for their suffering during World War Two, and that’s pretty much the same thing the protesters were saying.

Protesters, including far-right groups and their supporters, say the United States has no right to interfere in Polish affairs and that the U.S. government is putting “Jewish interests” over the interests of Poland…

“Why should we have to pay money today when nobody gives us anything?” said 22-year-old Kamil Wencwel. “Americans only think about Jewish and not Polish interests.”

The protesters shouted “No to claims!” and “This is Poland, not Polin,” using the Hebrew word for Poland…

One couple wore matching T-shirts reading “Death to the enemies of the fatherland,” while another man wore a shirt saying: “I will not apologize for Jedwabne” — a massacre of Jews by their Polish neighbors in 1941 under the German occupation…

…Many Poles to this day have a feeling that their suffering has not been adequately acknowledged by the world, while that of Jewish suffering in the Holocaust has, creating what has often been called a “competition of victimhood.”

…Among those far-right politicians who led the march were Janusz Korwin-Mikke and Grzegorz Braun, who have joined forces in a far-right coalition standing in the elections to the European Parliament later this month. Stopping Jewish restitution claims has been one of their key priorities, along with fighting what they call pro-LGBT “propaganda.” The movement is polling well with young Polish men.

The protestors used some American themes in an effort to highlight our lack of moral standing to criticize them.

At least two U.S. Confederate flags were visible at Saturday’s protest, which began with a rally in front of the prime minister’s office before the protesters walked to the U.S. Embassy. Men in Native American headdress held a banner with a message pointing to what they see as U.S. double standards: “USA, Practice 447 at home. Return stolen lands to the descendants of native tribes.”

I’m not sure if the Confederate Flag props were intended as a reminder that we have our own shameful past or as an expression of white supremacy. The fact that I don’t the answer to the question is telling all on its own.

It’s true that everyone in Poland suffered during World War Two and under the repressive governments of the Cold War. I don’t agree that this is a good reason not to compensate Holocaust survivors and their heirs for their economic losses. It’s certainly no justification at all for open expressions of anti-Semitism.

This episode does demonstrate how difficult it can be for America to show global leadership when we don’t practice what we preach.