Poland’s Foreign Ministry had hoped to summon Israel’s ambassador to the country to seek an explanation for comments he had made regarding Holocaust heritage trips for Israeli schoolchildren, which were halted amid a diplomatic dispute between the countries.
Poland’s Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski on Friday accused Israel’s ambassador Yacov Livne of “misleading the public about why it is not being carried out” and refusing to speak directly to the ministry.
Livne said Thursday on an occasion to mark the 79th anniversary of the uprising at Poland’s Sobibor death camp that it is “impossible” for young Israelis to stop at the memorial site “because of decisions made through the Polish Foreign Ministry. “
He added that Israel perceived Poland’s position on the factor and that the factor needed to be resolved.
Annual educational trips, involving thousands of young Israelis, have been suspended by the pandemic; in June, Israel said they would not resume because Poland’s right-wing government sought to control the program.
Poland has in the past accused young Israelis of receiving a “negative image” of Poland, due to the armed guards accompanying youth groups, the concentration of visits only on the Holocaust and the lack of contact with young Poles.
Jablonski said Livne would be summoned on Monday. Israel’s kan public broadcaster said the explanation meeting would be postponed until Wednesday, as the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah would fall on Monday.
“I regret that Mr. Ambassador [Yacov Livne] spoke to [the Polish Foreign Ministry] through the media and public appearances,” Jablonski said on Twitter.
He added that the factor calls into question Israel’s request to accompany youth teams with guards.
“The protection regulations will be the same as in other similar countries, that is, without armed protection. Poland will be treated to the same standard,” Jablonski said.
In August, the Polish government said it had proposed its election plan that would allow it to resume, but did not get a reaction from Israel.
The Ministry of Education said the program would be renewed in the near future.
Poland was invaded and occupied by Adolf Hitler’s regime in 1939 and has never had a collaborationist government. Members of the Polish resistance and the government-in-exile fought to warn the world of the bloodbath of the Jews, and thousands of Poles risked their lives to help the Jews. .
However, Holocaust scholars have collected much evidence from Polish villagers who murdered Jews fleeing the Nazis, or from Polish blackmailers who took advantage of defenseless Jews for monetary gain. Six million Jews, adding up to nearly all of Poland’s roughly 3 million Jews, were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators in the Holocaust, and the main Nazi death camps were in Poland.
The accounts of mourning have been a great tension between Israel and Poland.
Young Israelis historically went to Poland in the summer between grades 11 and 12 to stop at former Nazi camps to learn more about the Holocaust and commemorate those murdered.
It has long been regarded as a vital milestone in Israeli education, and prior to the COVID-19 pandemic some 40,000 Israeli scholars participated each year. Around 7,000 registered to pass last summer, according to the Ministry of Education.
He contributed to this report.
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