Poland summons Israel envoy over alleged Netanyahu Holocaust remarks

WARSAW: Poland’s foreign ministry on Friday summoned Israel’s ambassador over reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu implicated Poles in the Holocaust.

The reports, which have since been denied by Israeli Ambassador Anna Azari, sparked controversy in Poland and even threatened to undermine a summit due next week in Israel between Netanyahu and four central European counterparts.

Warsaw has long been at pains to point out that Poland, which was occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II, could not have and did not collaborate in the Holocaust although individual Poles may have done so.

Before being summoned, Azari had denied a Jerusalem Post report quoting Netanyahu as saying that "Poles cooperated with the Germans" in the Holocaust. The Haaretz newspaper later also ran the story. "I was present during the prime minister’s briefing and he didn’t say that the Polish nation collaborated with the Nazis, he only said that no person was sued for speaking about those Poles who did cooperate with them," Azari said in a Friday statement sent to Polish authorities. Prior to Azari’s statement, Polish President Andrzej Duda had even suggested that the Visegrad Group summit of four central European EU member and Israel due there next week could be reconsidered.

A Duda spokesman later confirmed that the meeting would go ahead, adding that the controversy had resulted from "harmful media manipulation". Azari also said that Netanyahu was "looking forward to meeting with (Polish) Prime Minister (Mateusz) Morawiecki next week". Netanyahu was in Warsaw this week for a two-day summit on the Middle East co-hosted by Poland and the United States and focused on isolating Iran while building Arab-Israeli ties.