Poland to Israeli minister: Please, stay home

“As a new row erupts over a proposed law in Poland criminalizing use of the term “Polish death camps,” the Israeli Prime Minister has naturally weighed in. Netanyahu has every right to do so, given the history of his nation. He is now in talks directly with the Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, over the issue.

“As the Prime Minister of a country who also lost millions of citizens in the Holocaust, so does Morawiecki have a right to define the narrative of his people’s suffering, and not allow others to do it for him…

“Much is misunderstood about the role of the Poles in the Second World War – but what is clear is that they were victims, not aggressors, and that far from collaborating with the Nazis – as most of Europe did – they fought them tooth and nail.”[2]

That certainly is a modus vivendi. If the Israeli regime wants the Poles to take some responsibility for what happened in World War II, say Polish officials, then they must acknowledge that the Poles themselves suffered and died during World War II. It’s that simple. But for the Israeli regime to talk about “Polish death camps”[3] while at the same time ignoring Polish suffering during the same era is historically unacceptable.

“Andrzej Zybertowicz, an adviser to the Polish president, told the Polska Times newspaper that Israel’s furious reaction has much to do with a ‘feeling of shame at the passivity of the Jews during the Holocaust.’ Zybertowicz, who served as ‘security advisor’ to then-President Lech Kaczynski from 2008 until 2010, claimed Israel is ‘clearly fighting to keep the monopoly on the Holocaust.’ According to Zybertowicz, ‘many Jews engaged in denunciation, collaboration during the war,’ a fact that is awaiting open discussion in Israel…

“President Andrzej Duda, who signed the bill into law last Tuesday, maintained it was necessary to combat an unfair perception of Poles as collaborators in the Nazi genocide of Jews.”[4]

If we take the Holocaust establishment with a grind of salt, we are told that over five million Poles died during World War II.[5] So, why is the Israeli regime ready to move heaven and earth in order to punish the Poles for their crimes against humanity while the same regime is not willing to admit that multiplied millions of Poles died during the same era? Who again are those people kidding?

Rachel Donadio of the Atlantic has recently written an article talking about the Polish government and insinuating that their new position on the “Holocaust” doesn’t make sense. She wrote:

“Proposed by a hardliner in Law and Justice, it’s significant that the law was rushed through just days after undercover reporters for a private Polish television channel filmed a neo-Nazi group in Poland waving Nazi flags, wearing Nazi uniforms, and burning a swastika.”[6]

The simple fact is that Donadio will not apply the same standard everywhere. No one should support neo-Nazis, but waving neo-Nazi flags doesn’t come even close to what the Israeli regime is currently doing in places like Gaza. In fact, Bennett himself declared that there won’t be a Palestinian state because Israel will do whatever is necessary to prevent that from happening.

As Ron Paul himself acknowledged a while back, Gaza is a concentration camp. Israeli historians such as Ilan Pappe argue almost the same thing. Israel, says Pappe, has created “the biggest prison on earth,” commonly known as the “occupied territories.”[7]

Or how about “criminalizing activism against Israeli occupation”?[8] Is that within the bound of reason?

The Israeli narrative simply doesn’t make sense at all. We should all applaud Poland for treading on “the road not taken” by any Western country.

• [1] “Poland cancels Israeli minister’s visit after hostile statements,” Middle East Monitor, February 7, 2018.
• [2] “Netanyahu must recognise Polish suffering in the Holocaust,” Middle East Monitor, January 30, 2018.
• [3] “Jews were ‘passive’ during Holocaust, so Israel is ashamed – Polish president’s aide,” Russia Today, February 10, 2018.
• [4] Ibid.
• [5] Jeremy Bender, “This Chart Shows The Astounding Devastation Of World War II,” Business Insider, May 29, 2014.
• [6] Rachel Donadio, “The Dark Consequences of Poland’s New Holocaust Law,” Atlantic, February 8, 2018.
• [7] Ilan Pappe, The Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Occupied Territories (Oxford: One World, 2016); see also The Forgotten Palestinians: A History of the Palestinians in Israel (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011).
• [8] Glenn Greenwald, Andrew Fishman, “Greatest Threat to Free Speech in the West: Criminalizing Activism Against Israeli Occupation,” The Intercept, February 17, 2016.