JERUSALEM: An off-hand comment by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Warsaw about Poland and the Holocaust looks to overshadow a summit of central European leaders this week in Israel.
Poland’s abrupt decision to downgrade its participation in the upcoming Visegrad conference suddenly cast a pall over the gathering, which Netanyahu has touted as a major milestone in his outreach to emerging democracies in eastern Europe and his broader goal of countering the criticism Israel typically faces in international forums.
The crisis was sparked last week when Netanyahu told reporters that “Poles cooperated with the Nazis.” The seemingly innocuous comment infuriated his Polish hosts, who reject suggestions that their country collaborated with Hitler.
Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, announced Sunday that he would be skipping this week’s Visegrad summit, a gathering with fellow prime ministers from Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Tuesday’s meeting in Jerusalem is the first time the gathering is being held outside of Europe.
But lost in the diplomatic uproar was that Netanyahu was actually defending his close alliance with Poland and other eastern European leaders when he made his comments.
Historians and domestic critics have accused Netanyahu of cozying up too tightly to nationalistic leaders who have promoted a distorted image of the Holocaust and turning a blind eye to anti-Semitism associated with them.
Morawiecki himself last year equated Polish perpetrators of the Holocaust to supposed “Jewish perpetrators.” Netanyahu has recently hosted leaders of Lithuania, Ukraine and other countries who have engaged in selective World War II-era commemorations that play down their countries’ culpability while making heroes out of anti-Soviet nationalists involved in the mass killing of Jews.
In response to a question from The Associated Press during his two-day visit to Warsaw, Netanyahu said he raises the issue of historical revisionism with the various leaders. He rejected the notion he was a partner to diminishing anyone’s complicity in the genocide of Jews in World War II.
“I know the history. I don’t starch it and I don’t whitewash it. In Lithuania, in particular, there were some horrible things. No one is concealing that,” said Netanyahu, the son of a historian. “This whole idea that we diminish history — we don’t distort, and we don’t hide, and no one has any interest in that, on the contrary.”
In the same briefing with his traveling press corps, Netanyahu tried to deflect prominent criticism by Israeli historians of the deal he struck with Polish leaders over their country’s controversial Holocaust speech law, which criminalized blaming the Polish nation for crimes committed against Jews during World War II.
Israeli officials saw it as an attempt by Poland to suppress discussion of the well-documented killing of Jews by Poles during and after the wartime German occupation.
“Poles collaborated with the Nazis and I don’t know anyone who was ever sued for such a statement,” Netanyahu told the reporters.
However, some media outlets reported him saying “THE Poles,” which set off an angry rebuke in Warsaw, including a summoning of the Israeli ambassador for clarifications. Netanyahu’s office said he was misquoted and blamed the misunderstanding on an editing error in an Israeli newspaper.
The Polish government nonetheless said it considered that response insufficient and threatened to withdraw from the conference.
Netanyahu’s office then reiterated that he “spoke of Poles and not the Polish people or the country of Poland.” That only got him in hotter water at home for seemingly catering to the Polish obsession over his wording.
“The prime minister of the Jewish state is selling out the memory of the Holocaust for a dubious alliance with an anti-Semitic leader,” said Tamar Zandberg, leader of the opposition Meretz party.
The summit is expected to go forth this week in Jerusalem even without Morawiecki, with Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz replacing him.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is expected to attend, is another such leader who has trod into the sensitive terrain of World War II conduct. He has lavished praise on Miklos Horthy, Hungary’s World War II-era ruler, who introduced anti-Semitic laws and collaborated with the Nazis. Orban also has backed a state-funded museum that experts say plays down the role of Hungarian collaborators and also used anti-Semitic imagery in a campaign against the liberal American-Hungarian billionaire George Soros.
When pressed by the AP, though, Netanyahu came to his ally’s defense.
“His response was the most direct, saying ‘we are not willing to accept this,’” Netanyahu responded. “He (Orban) attacked Horthy at some point. They are going the furthest here.”
Netanyahu also addressed his warm welcome in January to President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine, whose parliament had just designated the birthday of Ukrainian wartime collaborator Stepan Bandera a national holiday.
Bandera’s forces fought alongside the Nazis and were implicated in the murder of thousands of Jews. The same day Poroshenko was visiting Israel, another memorial was being erected in Kiev for Symon Petliura, whose troops are linked to pogroms that killed as many as 50,000 Jews after World War I.
Netanyahu said he was not aware of that specifically but that he had some discussions with Poroshenko on the larger issue.
“I spoke to him too. I speak to them all. It’s not that we can’t raise the issue. We raise it freely,” he insisted.
Still, he then quickly shifted attention toward the contemporary anti-Semitism from the “anarchist left” and Muslim communities.
“I think the mass of anti-Semitism today in Europe is what is happening in western Europe,” Netanyahu said. “What is happening in Britain is astounding. This is the new phenomenon. There is the anti-Semitism of the right that hasn’t changed. That existed and still exists.”
Uproar over Poland comments lingers for Israel’s Netanyahu
Uproar over Poland comments lingers for Israel’s Netanyahu
- Poland’s abrupt decision to downgrade its participation in the upcoming Visegrad conference suddenly cast a pall over the gathering
- The crisis was sparked last week when Netanyahu told reporters that “Poles cooperated with the Nazis”
World court orders Israel to take action to address Gaza famine
- The ICJ said the Palestinians in Gaza face worsening conditions of life, and famine and starvation are spreading
- “The court observes that Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine (...) but that famine is setting in,” the judges said
THE HAGUE: Judges at the International Court of Justice on Thursday unanimously ordered Israel to take all the necessary and effective action to ensure basic food supplies arrive without delay to the Palestinian population in Gaza.
The ICJ said the Palestinians in Gaza face worsening conditions of life, and famine and starvation are spreading.
“The court observes that Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine (...) but that famine is setting in,” the judges said in their order.
The new measures were requested by South Africa as part of its ongoing case that accuses Israel of state-led genocide in Gaza.
In January the ICJ, also known as the World Court, ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention and to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza.
In Thursday’s order the court reaffirmed the January measures but added Israel must take action to ensure unhindered provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance including food, water and electricity as well as medical supplies and medical care to Palestinians throughout Gaza.
The judges added that this could be done “by increasing the capacity and number of land crossing points and maintaining them open for as long as necessary.” The court ordered Israel to submit a report in a month after the order to detail how it had given effect to the ruling.
‘Utmost importance’ for Israel, Lebanon to restore calm: US
- “Restoring calm along that border remains a top priority for President Biden,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said
WASHINGTON: The White House called Thursday on Israel and Lebanon to put a high priority on restoring calm after new deadly border crossfire and Israeli strikes targeting Hezbollah.
“Restoring calm along that border remains a top priority for President Biden and for the administration and it has to be of utmost importance, we believe, as well for both Lebanon and Israel,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
UN ‘deeply disturbed’ by strikes on Lebanon rescue workers
- “Up to 11 civilians were killed in a single day, including 10 paramedics,” said Imran Riza, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon
- “Attacks on health care violate international humanitarian law and are unacceptable”
BEIRUT: The United Nations on Thursday said it was “deeply disturbed” by attacks on health care facilities, a day after several strikes blamed on Israel killed 10 emergency rescue workers in southern Lebanon.
“The tragic events of the past 36 hours have resulted in a significant loss of life and injuries in south Lebanon. Up to 11 civilians were killed in a single day, including 10 paramedics,” said Imran Riza, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon.
There has been near-daily cross-border fire between Lebanon’s Hezbollah, an ally of Palestinian militant group Hamas, and Israel since Hamas gunmen launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, triggering war in Gaza.
Lebanese groups say three separate Israeli strikes on Wednesday, including on a health center in the border village of Habariyeh, killed the 11 civilians.
“I am deeply disturbed by the repeated attacks on health facilities and health workers who risk their lives to provide urgent assistance to their local communities,” Riza added.
“Attacks on health care violate international humanitarian law and are unacceptable,” the UN official said in a statement.
Several militant groups in Lebanon operate health centers and emergency response operations.
Hezbollah said four of its fighters and two rescuers were killed in Wednesday’s strikes, while its ally the Amal movement said it had lost two members, including a rescuer.
An official from the Jamaa Islamiya militant group had earlier told AFP that “seven rescuers” were killed in Israeli strikes on the emergency center in Habariyeh.
The Israeli military said the target of one of the strikes was “a military compound” and those killed were Jamaa Islamiya militants.
It said a “significant terrorist operative” and other members of the group were planning attacks against Israel at the time of the strike.
Hezbollah responded to the deadly strikes by sending a barrage of rockets into northern Israel, killing one civilian in Kiryat Shmona on Wednesday.
The group on Thursday said they targeted the northern Israeli town of Shlomi and agricultural village of Goren in retaliation for the previous day’s attacks.
The uptick in violence has raised fears of a broader escalation in the conflict.
At least 346 people have been killed in Lebanon — mostly Hezbollah fighters, but also including at least 68 civilians — in clashes with Israel over the last six months, according to an AFP tally.
The fighting has also displaced tens of thousands of people in southern Lebanon and in northern Israel, where the military says 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed.
Nine people die in crash during Iran holiday season
- Police say 585 people have died on the roads since the start of a holiday season
- The latest accident in Semnan province saw two vehicles crash and catch fire
TEHRAN: Nine people were killed in a car crash in northeastern Iran on Thursday, the worst single accident since the start of the Persian new year holiday, state media reported.
Police say 585 people have died on the roads since the start of a holiday season that runs from 19 March to 1 April, and sees many Iranians travel to visit family.
The latest accident in Semnan province east of the capital Tehran saw two vehicles crash and catch fire, reported IRNA state news agency quoting the emergency services.
IRNA reported that the death toll for the holiday season last year was 1,217.
The high number of deaths has been blamed on the poor condition of parts of the road network, careless driving and the low quality of the vehicles.
A police official in 2022 accused local car makers of delivering “unsafe” vehicles to the public while charging them the same price as foreign companies.
Several overseas car firms quit Iran in 2018 after the US reimposed sanctions over the country’s nuclear program.
Palestinian PM Mustafa forms cabinet, calls for immediate ceasefire in Gaza
- He was also assigned to lead the relief and rebuilding of Gaza and performs double-duty as foreign minister, replacing Riyad Al-Maliki
- Abbas appointed the new government in a demonstration of willingness to meet international demands for change in the administration
RAMALLAH: Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa formed a new cabinet on Thursday in which he will also serve as foreign minister, making an immediate ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza a priority, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
Mustafa, an ally to President Mahmoud Abbas and a leading business figure, was appointed premier this month with a mandate to help reform the Palestinian Authority (PA), which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
He was also assigned to lead the relief and rebuilding of Gaza, which has been shattered by more than five months of war, while he performs double-duty as foreign minister, replacing Riyad Al-Maliki who had served in the position since 2009.
Abbas, who as president remains by far the most powerful figure in the PA, appointed the new government in a demonstration of willingness to meet international demands for change in the administration.
He approved Mustafa’s cabinet with financial expert Omar Al- Bitar as finance minister, and Muhamad al Amour, who served as the president of the Palestinian Businessmen Association, as economy minister. He kept Ziad Hab Al-Reeh, former chief of the PA’s internal intelligence agency, as interior minister, WAFA said.
The new cabinet, which includes eight ministers from Gaza, will also include a state minister for “relief affairs.”
Mustafa said in a statement addressed to Abbas that the first national priority was an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a complete Israeli withdrawal from the enclave, in addition to allowing humanitarian aid to enter in large quantities and reaching all areas, WAFA reported.
“In order to enable the launch of the recovery process and preparation for reconstruction, stop the aggression and settlement activities, and curb settlers’ terrorism in the West Bank,” Mustafa added.
Hamas, the Islamist movement that controlled Gaza until Israel’s invasion in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, has criticized the appointment of Mustafa but it had no immediate reaction to the naming of his new cabinet.
STRAINED
The PA, controlled by Abbas’ Fatah political faction, has long had a strained relationship with Hamas and the two factions fought a brief war before Fatah was expelled from the territory in 2007.
However it has repeatedly condemned the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip and has insisted it must play a role in running Gaza after the war, a position supported by the United States.
For the moment, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected PA involvement in Gaza, and for months his hard-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has refused to hand over tax revenues due to the Authority, which still funds health and some other services in the enclave.
For months, thousands of Palestinian public sector employees have gone unpaid or received only a part of their salary as a result of the standoff. Mustafa said the government was taking office at a time of “unprecedented financial crisis.”
He said salary arrears owed to public sector employees now totalled $745 million with another $1.3 billion owed to private sector suppliers and $3 billion more in pension arrears, while revenues in January were down 30 percent compared to before the war.