Polish President Won’t Go to Yerushalayim for Holocaust Event

Poland’s President Andrzej Duda will not attend a Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial event in Israel on Jan. 23, as the organizers did not agree to allow him to speak at the event, he said at a press conference on Tuesday.

“As the (Polish) president I will not take part in the event that will take place on Jan. 23 in Jerusalem,” he said.

He added that he does not approve of the fact that representatives of Russia, France, Britain, Germany and the United States will be able to speak at the event while Poland won’t be able to.

The Polish leader’s decision comes against the background of an acrimonious, weeks-long debate with Russia over who started World War II. The Poles, along with a recent resolution by the E.U., blame the Stalin-Hitler non-aggression pact, while the Russians blame western appeasement of Nazi Germany.