Polish official to join int'l Knesset conference despite tensions: report

According to Israeli daily Maariv, the country's foreign ministry suggested withdrawing an invitation to Agnieszka Kaczmarska, the head of the Chancellery of the Polish lower house, after Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki's comment last Saturday escalated tensions, Poland's PAP news agency said.

But the Jerusalem Post said Knesset director-general Albert Sacharovich declined do disinvite the Polish official, adding that the invitation to the conference of parliamentary directors-general and secretaries-general from some 30 countries was extended and accepted before the Polish-Israeli crisis started in mid-January, PAP reported.

Ties between Poland and Israel soured after Polish parliament passed a bill, later signed by Polish President Andrzej Duda, which could impose a jail term on anyone who accuses Poland of being complicit in Nazi German crimes.

Duda has sent the law to the Polish Constitutional Tribunal for clarification.

In Poland, the new rules are seen as a way of fighting the use of the phrase “Polish death camps”, which many say implies the country's involvement in the Holocaust.

But commentators have said that Israel is concerned that the new law could mean penalties for anyone who criticises individual Poles' role in the Holocaust.

The remarks by Morawiecki that sparked anger came at a Munich security conference Saturday, when he referred to the new Polish anti-defamation law.

Morawiecki said: “It's not going to be punishable, not going to be seen as criminal, to say that there were Polish perpetrators, as there were Jewish perpetrators, as there were Russian perpetrators, as there were Ukrainian [and] not only German perpetrators."

Public broadcaster Polish Radio has launched a new website, GermanDeathCamps.info, aimed at debunking misconceptions about Poland’s role in the Holocaust. (vb/pk)