Polish President Blames Israel for Anti-Semitism Increase

Polish President Andrzej Duda blamed Israel for rising anti-Semitism in his country in a meeting this week with American Jewish leaders, according to a report by the Jewish Insider.

In a Wednesday meeting with American Jewish leaders at the Polish Consulate in New York, Polish President Andrzej Duda blamed none other than Israel for Poland’s rise in anti-Semitism, the Jewish Insider reported Friday.

At the meeting, Duda criticized Israel’s lack of regret over statements regarding Poland’s participation in the Holocaust, and said that Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz’s comments several months ago were a “humiliation.”

According to participants in the meeting – which included representatives from the Anti-Defamation League and AIPAC – Duda also suggested that the increase in anti-Semitic attacks against Jews in Poland were a consequence of Katz’s comments.

Duda’s countrymen also told him not to travel until Katz apologized, the Jewish Insider added.

In February, Katz inflamed tensions with Warsaw when, quoting late prime minister Yitzchak Shamir, he said “Poles suckle anti-Semitism with their mothers’ milk.”

He was also quoted as saying, “There were many Poles who collaborated with the Nazis.”

Following his comments, Poland pulled out of the Visegrad Group (V4) summit in Yerushalayim.