Butting horns with Poland

Regarding “Visegrad Jerusalem summit canceled as Warsaw balks” (February 19), it is remarkable how a little word like “the” can cause so much trouble.

The omission or inclusion of the word “the” in UN Resolution 242, referring to “territories” that Israel would have to vacate in the context of a peace agreement, has spurred more than a half century of debate as to the extent of Israel’s responsibilities, a conversation which will undoubtedly continue for many years to come.

Now, the Polish media’s insertion (deliberate or not) of the word “the” in quoting Netanyahu’s accusation of Poles’ involvement in mass murder, has resulted in the latest diplomatic crisis between Poland and Israel.

The fact that the Polish government handed the keys to Hitler, thereby ceasing to exist as a nation, does not mean that the “Polish nation” was not by and large complicit or at least silent vis a vis the murder of almost three million Polish Jews. The handful of righteous Poles who hid Jews in their barns under stacks of hay hardly absolves their countrymen of their awesome responsibility for this unspeakable tragedy.

There are many truths in life, but there is only one “the” truth. The sooner the Poles come to grips with it, the better. NOAM COHEN Efrat

Unfortunately, Israeli politicians have yet to absorb the lesson of Pirkei Avot- there is nothing better for a person than silence.

This is valid no matter how true the underlying sentiment. SAM ROSENBLUM Beit Shemesh

I’m really disappointed in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Warsaw about my nation. So many Polish people died because they saved the Jews. You are not thankful.

Yes some people did not do good deeds for Jews. This was war and the Polish people lost a lot. We didn’t start the fight with Hitler. WOJCIECH BALEJKO Poland