Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki will not attend the planned Monday meeting of the leaders of central European EU members in Israel, essentially because of what the new substitute foreign minister Yisrael Katz said about the role of the Poles in the extermination of Jews during WW2.
In an interview with 24-News Sunday, upon the declaration of his entering his new post—until the April 9 elections—Katz quoted late prime Minister Yitzchak Shamir, who said the poles drank in their anti-Semitism with their mother’s milk.
In response, Morawiecki called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, to let him know he’s not coming. He will send Poland’s foreign minister, Jacek Czaputowicz, in his place. Perhaps he and Katz could discuss the whole matter over a glass of sweet borscht (the Russians prefer it savory).
Polish ambassador to Israel Marek Magierowski tweeted on Sunday: “It is really astonishing that the newly appointed foreign minister of Israel quotes such a shameful and racist remark. Utterly unacceptable.”
Those Jews, when are they going to forget about their Holocaust?
Speaking to Reshet Bet radio on Monday morning, Foreign Minister Katz spoke the truth on the subject, proving once again he is not fit to be a diplomat:
“Historical truth can not be changed,” he said. “The Poles cooperated with the Nazis and took part in the extermination of the Jews during the Holocaust. Poland was the great cemetery of the Jewish people, there is only one historical truth. Anti-Semitism was inherent in the Poles before, during and after the Holocaust.”
Following so much refreshing truth, Katz added: “It is possible and important to maintain ties with the Polish government, in the interests of the State of Israel. But we must not forget the past and we must not harm the legacy and memory of Holocaust victims.”
Katz then took a feeble crack at diplomacy, meaning, essentially, lying, when he said, “I did not say that all the Poles collaborated, but a large part of them did. The Visegrád Forum is important, but it must be held on the basis of historical truth.”
The Visegrád Group is a cultural and political alliance of four Central European states – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, which are members of both the European Union and NATO. These four countries, governed by right-wing parties, some of which are worrisomely associated with anti-Semitic groups, provide sound support to Netanyahu’s government in its struggle against the ant-Zionist folks in Brussels.
Which is why you can’t have both, Mr. Katz: if you keep reminding Poles of their dark past, they won’t give you their support.
Last week, Netanyahu himself got in some boiling water, when he was quoted—apparently misquoted—about the Poles’ dark thing. That Holocaust, I’m telling you, it’s like it’s staying with us forever…