Summit cancelled as Israel and Poland row over Holocaust

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Israeli foreign minister accuses Poles of hatred towards Jews in remarks described as 'racist' by Polish PM

Poland's prime minister has accused Israel's foreign minister of racism in an escalating diplomatic row over the Holocaust that resulted in the cancellation on Monday of an international summit in Jerusalem.

Mateusz Morawiecki withdrew his country's involvement in the summit after Yisrael Katz, who was appointed acting Israeli foreign minister on Sunday, said Poles "suckle antisemitism with their mother's milk" and accused all Polish people of harbouring "innate" antisemitism.

Katz's remarks were "unacceptable", Morawiecki said."Not only can we not accept such racist comments, but with all our strength we want to stress that we will fight for historical truth, for the honour of Poles," he told reporters.

The diplomatic crisis broke out on Thursday when the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted by some Israeli media as saying that "the Poles" collaborated with the Nazis. Netanyahu's office later said he was misquoted, and that he said "Poles", not "the Poles", and meant to blame individuals, not the whole nation.

The ensuing standoff has overshadowed a summit Netanyahu was due to host on Monday for the V4 group – Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. It also threatens to derail his efforts to draw alliances with central European nations despite national concerns over deepening xenophobic politics in that region.

Israel later conceded that Poland's absence meant the V4, with only three of the four members attending, would be cancelled. "There will be no full V4 meeting," Emmanuel Nahshon, a spokesman for Israel's foreign ministry, said.

Poland's foreign ministry has summoned the Israeli ambassador twice in three days, and the head of the Polish prime minister's office, Michał Dworczyk, said the Israeli foreign minister's comments were "disgraceful" . Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, also released a statement saying Katz's comments had offended Polish Jews.

Katz told Israel's Army Radio on Monday he wanted to maintain good relations with Poland, but went on to criticise all Poles.

He said: "Historical truth cannot be changed. Many Poles collaborated with the Nazis and took part in the destruction of the Jews during the Holocaust … Antisemitism was innate among the Poles before the Holocaust, during it and after it too."

Netanyahu had hoped central European countries would act as an ally for Israel against other European nations critical of its occupation of the Palestinian territories.

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Can someone more knowledgeable expand if there is whitewashing going on in Poland? I know their current government can be categorized as on the far right.

 

[NotLiquid]

As someone who's half-Polish I always get the impression that Poland is like the country equivalent of that self-loathing kid who got bullied a lot and grew up to become one themselves.

 

[Fliesen]

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Can someone more knowledgeable expand if there is whitewashing going on in Poland? I know their current government can be categorized as on the far right.

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Wasn't there this whole issue of the Polish vehemently rejecting the terminology "Polish Death Camps", refering to Nazi concentration camps located in German occupied Poland?

edit: ("On 6 February 2018 Poland's President Andrzej Duda signed into law an amendment to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance, criminalizing statements that ascribe collective responsibility in Holocaust-related crimes to the Polish nation,[5] It was generally understood that the law would criminalize use of the expressions "Polish death camp" and "Polish concentration camp".[6][7][8]")

Similarly, many neighbours of Nazi Germany have a hard time getting to terms with their role at the beginning of WW2. Many Austrians tend to consider our country the first 'victim' of Nazi Germany, when - to a certain degree - we were the first collaborator...

No idea how Poland is dealing with this; But right wingers all over Europe tend to push all the blame and responsibility for the atrocities committed during the Holocaust to Germany alone, which is a very simplistic way of washing your own hands clean while also using similar political toolsets as the pre-war National Socialists.

 

[funky]

I know this Polish lady who is super pro Israel at work and I wonder how she feels about all this

 

[sibarraz]

As someone who's half-Polish I always get the impression that Poland is like the country equivalent of that self-loathing kid who got bullied a lot and grew up to become one themselves.

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After the genocide that Palestinians are suffering, I think that Israel fits this criteria too

 

[Potterson]

Polish people tend to always change subject when someone reminds them of their bad history.

Some Poles helped Germans during WW2. Some hated Jews. There were pogroms (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedwabne_pogrom). But when these matters are the subject, many people are quick to point to something else. you know, like "Oh, but look what Ukrainians did to us!", "Oh, but some Jews were also colaborating with nazis!" etc... So the discussion is never as civil as it could be.

It's quite simple for me. There isn't one nation that has done nothing bad or evil. We did some good things, we did some horrible things. Why the hell not just accept that?

 

[junomars]

Don't have much more to say other than its a shame that such an old tragedy is still dividing people to this day. What would even trigger such comments? Are they unprovoked?

 

[Elfotografoalocado]

As someone who's half-Polish I always get the impression that Poland is like the country equivalent of that self-loathing kid who got bullied a lot and grew up to become one themselves.

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That pretty much describes Israel too.

For what would have been said in this summit, it's not a bad thing it was canceled.

 

[junomars]

Polish people tend to always change subject when someone reminds them of their bad history.

Some Poles helped Germans during WW2. Some hated Jews. There were pogroms (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedwabne_pogrom). But when these matters are the subject, many people are quick to point to something else. you know, like "Oh, but look what Ukrainians did to us!", "Oh, but some Jews were also colaborating with nazis!" etc... So the discussion is never as civil as it could be.

It's quite simple for me. There isn't one nation that has done nothing bad or evil. We did some good things, we did some horrible things. Why the hell not just accept that?

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My question would be why would such things matter if the goal is to actually improve relations? At some point you have to move past prior grievances.

 

[Volimar]

Duplicate thread. Original here: https://www.resetera.com/threads/ev...ers-milk-said-israel-foreign-minister.100382/