Poland to Attend Yerushalayim Conference Over Foreign Ministry Objection

Poland will be participating in an international parliamentary conference at the Knesset on Tuesday, despite the opposition of the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

Agnieszka Kaczmarska, secretary of the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament, was invited to attend what has been billed as “the largest conference ever held in the Knesset Building.” Some 50 senior members of parliamentary administrations have agreed to participate.

The Foreign Ministry suggested that the Knesset disinvite the Polish representative, Maariv reported. But Knesset director-general Albert Sacharovich, a co-host of the conference, refused to do so.

The invitation to Poland was sent out before the rift began over the Holocaust law, which criminalized statements about Polish complicity in the Holocaust.

Zionist Camp MK Ayelet Nahmias-Verbin, who has advocated a stronger response to the Polish law, said: “As long as the prime minister doesn’t bother calling back the ambassador [to Poland] for discussions, what can we expect from the Knesset?”

Nahmias-Verbin also said she does not expect MKs to make any protest against Kaczmarska’s visit.

Other countries sending parliamentary representatives to the Knesset Tuesday include: Armenia, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, the European Parliament, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Haiti, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Portugal, Russia, Rwanda, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands, Ukraine and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.