Polish officials seek Israeli apology for ‘racist’ remarks

WARSAW: Senior Polish officials on Tuesday demanded Israel apologise for comments on the alleged anti-Semitism of Poles in a row which led Warsaw to pull out of a Jerusalem summit.

Israeli authorities must "reject this declaration... and apologise", Junior Foreign Minister Szymon Szynkowski said. He was referring to Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz´s comments at the weekend that "Poles suckle anti-Semitism with their mothers´ milk".

Katz also said "there were many Poles who collaborated with the Nazis." Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki withdrew from a summit of central European nations in Jerusalem this week after the latest salvo in a long row between Poland and Israel over history during World War II.

Morawiecki´s chief of staff Marek Suski said if no apology was forthcoming "relations will really take a frosty turn". The Polish premier on Monday described the comments as "racist and unacceptable", adding that Katz was "trying to insult the Poles by distorting history". The United States, which has close ties with Israel, threw its weight behind Poland in the row on Tuesday with the US ambassador to Warsaw criticising Katz´s remark.

"Between close allies, like Poland and Israel, there is no room for such offensive comments as yesterday´s statement by Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz," Georgette Mosbacher tweeted in Polish on her official page.