POLAND – Israel Foreign Minister To Hold Urgent Discussion Over Polish PM's Remarks

ISRAEL NATIONAL NEWS – Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) announced on Saturday night that she will hold an urgent discussion at the Foreign Ministry following the latest statements by the Polish prime minister on the Holocaust.

“The words of the Polish prime minister are serious and require an apology to the Jewish people for distorting the memory of the Holocaust. We cannot accept such outrageous comparisons. In light of the continuing crisis in this matter with the Polish government, I intend to convene an urgent meeting with the relevant parties at the Foreign Ministry,” Hotovely said.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Saturday that the Holocaust included “Jewish perpetrators” as well.

“There were Polish perpetrators, as there were Jewish perpetrators, as there were Russian perpetrators, as there were Ukraine and German perpetrators,” Morawiecki said at the Munich Security Conference in response to a question by Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman.

Earlier this month, Poland passed a law mandating fines or up to three years in jail for anyone ascribing “responsibility or co-responsibility to the Polish nation or state for crimes committed by the German Third Reich.”

MKs from across the political spectrum criticized Morawiecki’s statement, including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who said, “The Polish Prime Minister’s words here in Munich are outrageous. There’s a huge problem of a lack of understanding of history, and a lack of sensitivity to our nation’s tragedy. I intend to speak to him as soon as possible.”