Poland’s leader seeks to mend ties with Israel

WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s prime minister said Sunday that dialogue with Israel about the Holocaust is necessary and would serve as a warning to prevent such “exceptionally terrifying” crimes from happening again.

Mateusz Morawiecki tweeted his thoughts after a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The call was prompted by a comment the Polish politician made that equated Polish collaborators in the Holocaust to alleged “Jewish perpetrators.”

The remark, given Saturday at the Munich Security Conference, reignited a weeks-long diplomatic dispute over Poland’s new law prohibiting some statements about the Holocaust. The law reflects the current Polish government’s approach to World War II history, which focuses on Poland’s suffering and heroism.

“Dialogue about this most difficult history is necessary, as a warning. We will conduct such dialogue with Israel,” Morawiecki wrote on Twitter.

Jewish leaders in Israel and elsewhere condemned Morawiecki’s comment as anti-Semitic. Sunday’s telephone conversation was the second one that Morawiecki and Netanyahu had in three weeks in connection to the new law.

Netanyahu’s office said he told Morawiecki that “a comparison between the activities of Poles and the activities of Jews during the Holocaust is unfounded.” The two prime ministers agreed to work together to soothe the intense feelings in both their countries.