by Yona Schnitzer
“Israel should withdraw its ambassador from Poland immediately, and should expel all Polish diplomats from Israel,” MK Shuli Mualem-Rafaeli (Bayit Yehudi) said Tuesday, following the approval of the Polish Senate of legislation that criminalizes accusations of Polish complicity in the Holocaust.
“It’s a dramatic step but it embodies a clear message that we are not willing to accept the distortion of history and a country that chooses to do so is no friend of Israel,” the lawmaker said.
Mualem-Rafaeli’s statement followed the Polish government’s cancellation of Education Minister and Bayit Yehudi chairman Naftali Bennett’s visit to Warsaw this week. That came after Bennett said he would use the visit to “make it clear” that Polish complicity in the Holocaust is an historical fact that cannot be erased.
“Yes, the death camps in Poland were built and operated by the Germans, and we cannot allow them to evade responsibility for these actions,” Bennett said.
“However, many Polish people all over the country chased, informed or actively took part in the murder of over 200,000 Jews during and after the Holocaust. Only a few thousand people, ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ risked themselves to save Jews,” Bennett said while announcing his trip.