Polish PM: Poland is devoted to friendship with Jewish nation
Morawiecki spoke of the “Polish people’s true devotion to the friendship with the Jewish nation.”
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFPoland's former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki(photo credit: FRANCOIS LENOIR / REUTERS)
Poland is devoted to the Jewish people and the State of Israel, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote on Tuesday in an email exchange with renowned American rabbi, Shmuley Boteach.The two had an email exchange – shared with The Jerusalem Post – amid the ongoing crisis between Jerusalem and Warsaw, sparked by comments Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made during a visit to Poland last week about the cooperation of some Poles with Nazi Germany during the Holocaust.Morawiecki spoke of the “Polish people’s true devotion to the friendship with the Jewish nation.”“This is of great importance to me and I could not have a bigger wish right now than for more people to think like you,” he told Boteach who wrote to him of his pain upon schism between Israel and Poland. “I hope that we will finally come to terms with Prime Minister Netanyahu, but words like those by the minister of foreign affairs are totally unacceptable for Poland, I am sure that you can understand it.”Katz gave an interview on Sunday to i24 and Israel Hayom in which he defended Netanyahu’s original statement and tried to downplay the scope of the crisis.“We will neither forgive nor forget, and there were many Poles who collaborated with the Nazis. How did Yitzhak Shamir put it – they killed his father – ‘the Poles suckle antisemitism with their mother’s milk,’” Katz said in the interview.Boteach said that the breakdown in Israel’s relations with Poland was particularly concerning since it came just days after Morawiecki “showed great moral courage in convening an international conference with the United States to counter Iranian aggression and genocidal threats to Israel and the Jewish people.”“Iran wants to annihilate us. America, Poland, and just a few other nations stand with Israel against their tyranny. While we must never engage age in, or allow, holocaust revisionism, for whatever beneficial purpose, we must also practice gratitude in showing thanks and appreciation to friends who seek our protection,” Boteach said.
