Poland President to review Holocaust bill after Israeli concern

WARSAW: Poland’s President on Sunday promised to review a new bill regarding the Holocaust and the definition of Nazi death camps, after the measure sparked a diplomatic row with Israel.

Poland’s rightwing- dominated parliament on Friday adopted legislation that sets fines or a maximum three-year jail term for anyone who refers to Nazi German death camps as being Polish.

The measure, intended to apply to both Poles and foreigners, must still pass the Polish Senate before being signed by President Andrzej Duda.

In a statement on Sunday, Duda said he would present his “final evaluation of procedural legal provisions after the completion of parliament’s work and a careful analysis of the final shape of the act”.

The bill includes an article that applies a fine or a jail term to anyone who ascribes “responsibility or co- responsibility to the Polish nation or state for crimes committed by the German Third Reich — or other crimes against humanity, peace and war crimes”.

Israel’s ambassador to Poland Anna Azari told the Polish PAP news agency that Israel believes the latter article could open the door to Holocaust survivors being prosecuted for their testimony should it concern the involvement of Poles in war crimes.

Azari said that while Israel’s government rejects the legislation, it also “understands” who built death camps like Auschwitz and that it was “not the Poles”.

A top Duda aide is due to meet with Azari on Monday in Warsaw.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Poland of seeking to deny history with the bill.

“We have no tolerance for the distortion of the truth and rewriting history or denying the Holocaust,” he said on Sunday.

The Israeli leader later spoke with his Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki on the phone and the pair agreed to “immediately open a dialogue” to reach an understanding about the legislation, Netanyahu’s office said. — AFP