Polish President Andrzej Duda | Sean Gallup/Getty Images Polish senate approves Holocaust law The proposal makes it illegal to refer to Nazi concentration camps as ‘Polish death camps.’

Lawmakers in Poland on Thursday approved a controversial proposal for a law that would make it a crime to ascribe responsibility to Poles for crimes committed by Nazis in World War II, according to Reuters.

The proposal, dubbed the Holocaust law, caused a diplomatic rift between Poland and Israel, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comparing the draft legislation to an attempt to change history. The United States also urged Poland not to pass the proposal Wednesday.

The draft legislation was approved in the senate, with 57 in favor, 23 against and two abstentions. It will now move to President Andrzej Duda for a signature.

It is the latest in a long-term battle by Polish authorities to end the practice in media and elsewhere of referring to concentration camps like Auschwitz, which were used to kill Jews during the Second World War, as "Polish death camps." If the law is brought into effect, such a reference made in Poland or abroad could lead to up to three years in jail.

“We have to send a clear signal to the world that we won’t allow for Poland to continue being insulted,” Deputy Justice Minister Patryk Jaki said in parliament.