Israeli-polish row escalates as Holocaust Bill passed
ISRAEL could recall its ambassador from Poland as a diplomatic row between the two countries about Polish complicity in the Holocaust escalated.
The Polish parliament yesterday passed a Bill that could outlaw false accusations of Polish complicity in the Holocaust. It now awaits the signature of Andrzej Duda, the Polish president, to become law.
The Israeli government has protested at the legislation and claims that it is an attempt to whitewash any apparent involvement of Poles in wartime crimes against Jews.
Onet, a Polish news website, cited a source close to the Israeli foreign ministry saying that Anna Azari, Israel’s ambassador to Warsaw, would return home as an expression of her country’s anger over the passage of the legislation.
Yisrael Katz, the Israeli transport minister, yesterday called upon Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, to recall Ms Azari. Emmanuel Nahshon, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, said: “Israel views with utmost gravity any attempt to challenge historical truth.
“No law will change the facts,” the statement continued, adding that Israel “adamantly opposes” the Bill.
The controversy has led to a sharp deterioration in once-strong Polish-israeli relations, and prompted fears it could embolden far-right elements in Poland. In Warsaw, police cordoned off an area around the Israeli embassy to prevent neo-fascist protests. As it stands, the legislation allows for punishments of up to three years in prison for anybody found guilty of making false accusations of Polish responsibility for crimes committed by the Third Reich.
It also outlaws the term “Polish camps” when referring to concentration and death camps operated by the Germans in Poland during the war.
The clash over the Bill has touched upon a sensitive and complicated issue in Poland. Many Poles, and in particular the government, feel the immense suffering the country endured under Nazi occupation is too often ignored abroad, or deliberately pushed aside by those wanting to focus on Polish antisemitism.
However, others argue that while it is wrong to diminish Polish suffering, the legislation could stand in the way of Poland investigating and confronting incidents of Poles betraying or killing Jews.
The United States has also flagged its concern over the legislation, saying it “could undermine free speech and academic discourse”. Despite the criticism, the Polish government appears unflinching in its support for the legislation.
“We have to send a clear signal to the world that we won’t allow for Poland to continue being insulted,” Patryk Jaki, a deputy justice minister, told reporters in parliament before the vote.
In a statement issued yesterday, the Polish foreign ministry denied the legislation would inhibit “freedom of research and scholarship, and freedom of historical debate”.