London: Benjamin Netanyahu accused Poland of trying to rewrite history on Sunday, as the country pushed legislation that would make it illegal to describe Nazi death camps as Polish. In a cabinet meeting, the Israeli prime minister said Israel had “no tolerance for the distortion of the truth, the rewriting of history and the denial of the Holocaust”.
Netanyahu and Polish Prime Minister Matusz Moravitsky spoke by phone on Sunday agreeing to open a dialogue to avoid further diplomatic fallout following Poland’s initial approval of the law making it a criminal offence to mention Polish complicity in crimes committed during the Holocaust.
The Bill marks a dramatic step by Poland’s nationalist government to enforce its official stance that Poles were heroes during the war. But historians say many Poles collaborated with the Nazis and committed heinous crimes.
Israel has also summoned its Polish envoy to show its displeasure with the proposals, which could see those who blame Poles for Nazi war crimes fined or even jailed for up to three years.
Read the full article by James Rothwell at The Brisbane Times.