Poland Summons Israeli Ambassador in Protest Against Netanyahu's Remarks

One day after the conclusion of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Poland for the upcoming Middle East peace and security conference in Warsaw, the Polish Foreign Ministry summoned the Israeli ambassador on Friday, February 15, in protest against Netanyahu's comments regarding "the complicity of Poles with the Nazis." The summoning of the Israeli ambassador occurred while Netanyahu was present on Thursday, February 14, alongside Mateusz Morawiecki, the Prime Minister of Poland, and Mike Pence, the Vice President of the United States, at the Holocaust victims' memorial, where they paid their respects by laying a wreath. After visiting the memorial, Netanyahu told Israeli reporters, "Poles were accomplices of the Nazis, and I do not know anyone who would complain to me for saying this." Israeli journalists had asked Netanyahu for his opinion on a law that was passed by the Polish parliament last year. The Polish law was a government bill that asserts Poland's right to prosecute anyone who claims that the country collaborated with the Nazis. Before this government bill became law, Israel and Poland had a prolonged disagreement over it, but changes in the final text of the bill seemingly ended the dispute between the two countries. Many Israelis, especially Holocaust survivors, have accused Poles of collaborating with the Nazis in the persecution and killing of Jews. Approximately three million Jews from Poland were killed during the Nazi occupation, which constituted half of the Jewish population in Poland before World War II. Following the publication of Netanyahu's remarks on Thursday in Israeli media, the Prime Minister of Poland responded by stating that Poland was "a victim of Nazi occupation." According to Israeli media, Anna Azari, the Israeli ambassador to Poland, sent a letter to the Warsaw government on Thursday evening, stating that the Israeli Prime Minister did not say that "the Polish nation committed crimes against the Jews; rather, Poles were accomplices of the Nazis." However, according to Wynet, the Polish government summoned Ms. Azari to the Foreign Ministry on Friday while she was at Warsaw airport preparing to return to Israel for the weekend, but upon hearing the news of the summoning, she had to return to the city of Warsaw. A spokesperson for the Polish Foreign Ministry stated on Friday that based on the explanation given by the Israeli ambassador, the issue was a misunderstanding by the journalists, and it was good that the matters were clarified. Andrzej Duda, the President of Poland, stated on Thursday that Israel perhaps should not host the Visegrad meeting; it was also reported that the Prime Minister of Poland said he might reconsider his previous agreement to attend the Visegrad meeting in Israel. The first Visegrad Group summit, including Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia, is scheduled to take place on Monday, February 18, in Israel.