Israeli foreign minister should apologise to Poland: US ambassador

The American ambassador, Georgette Mosbacher, has previously said there was no place in Polish-Israeli relations for offensive remarks.

Mosbacher was speaking amid tensions between Poland and Israel, two key American allies.

Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz was quoted by the PAP news agency as saying that "there is a widespread view that the Israeli side is to blame for the crisis."

After Israel’s interim foreign minister, Israel Katz, reportedly accused “many Poles” of collaborating with the German Nazis during the Holocaust, Poland pulled out of a regional summit in Jerusalem planned for earlier this week.

The meeting of the Visegrad Group, a regional cooperation platform which brings together Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, was then called off.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki slammed Katz for his “reprehensible, unacceptable and simply racist” words.

Morawiecki told reporters: “This is an example of racist anti-Polonism.” He pointed out that Poles had saved a huge number of Jews after Nazi Germany instigated the Holocaust.

Nazi Germany murdered millions of Jews during World War II, including at Nazi death camps like Auschwitz set up in German-occupied Poland.

The efforts of thousands of Poles who risked their lives by helping Jews during the war have been recognised by Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial.

The US State Department has called for dialogue between Poland and Israel, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.

(pk)

Source: IAR