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This week’s summit between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the leaders of four Central and Eastern European nations has been abandoned following a row about the Holocaust.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki pulled out of the summit scheduled for Monday and Tuesday after Netanyahu and other members of the Israeli cabinet accused Poland of cooperating with the Nazis.
In addition, Israel’s acting Foreign Minister, Yisrael Katz, said: “Poles imbibe anti-Semitism with their mother’s milk.
“I am the son of Holocaust survivors. The memory of the Holocaust is not something to compromise about. It is obvious. We will not forget, and we will not forgive.”
Katz then pledged to ensure that no one would change the historical truth of what happened.
“Poles collaborated with the Nazis, definitely.
“As (former Israeli Prime Minister) Yitzhak Shamir said — his father was murdered by Poles — he said that from his point of view they sucked anti-Semitism with their mothers’ milk. You can’t sugarcoat this history.”
A statement in response from the Polish Prime Minister’s office says “In recent days there have been several false accusations against the Polish state and the Polish nation.”
The prime minister’s office says the accusations “were partially denied, and there was an apology issued for some of them.
“But these led to further false accusations against the actions of Poles during the Second World War which neither the Polish state nor the Polish nation accepts.”
Poland’s Prime Minister said Katz’s remarks were “racist and unacceptable”.
In response to Poland’s outrage, Netanyahu’s office said he was initially misquoted as saying “The Poles” which would suggest the whole Polish nation was wrong.
However, the Polish government says it is not satisfied with the explanation proffered by the Israeli ambassador that Netanyahu was misquoted.
Source
- Vatican News
- BBC
- Image: Haaretz
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News category: World.
