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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: July 9, 2006 |
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Israeli officials are refusing all contact with Poland's new education minister because he leads a right-wing party they consider anti-Semitic, a policy that could hinder cooperation in the area of Holocaust education, officials said Sunday.
Jerusalem is stopping short of a formal boycott of relations with Roman Giertych, but has decided instead to shun any dealings with him, said Tali Samesh, a senior official in the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
"The Polish education minister is the president of a Polish party ... that is an anti-Semitic party by definition, therefore we are not interested in having contacts with him," Samesh said. "We are not initiating anything with that minister."
Poland plays a pivotal role in Holocaust remembrance because Nazi Germany set up many of its death camps on occupied Polish territory. Under communism, Poland's authorities downplayed the Holocaust; but since communism callapsed 16 years ago, Poland has made great strides in promoting Holocaust education and has built strong ties with Israel.
Giertych, who heads the League of Polish Families, was not immediately available for comment.
His party, known by its initials in Polish LPR, is a small ultra-Catholic and nationalist party that joined the governing coalition in early May. That deal has sparked street protests in Warsaw and other cities.
The Jewish community is also concerned because the party has a far-right youth wing, the All-Polish Youth, with members who have used Nazi slogans and gestures. The League itself is ideologically linked to a pre-World War II party, National Democracy, that led successful efforts to limit the numbers of Jews at Polish universities and segregate them from Christians.
"We have a standing policy not to talk to LPR members, and this goes back before the formation of this coalition," Israel's ambassador to Poland, David Peleg, told The Associated Press. "I am not going to meet or to talk to Mr. Giertych."
The governing Law and Justice party, a socially conservative party, formed the coalition with the league and another small party, Self-Defense in May.
Peleg said he has expressed his displeasure to Polish leaders over handing the party the ministry that forms the "core" of Polish-Jewish and Polish-Israeli relations. The ministry oversees Holocaust education in Poland, youth exchanges and the annual March of the Living, a Holocaust remembrance march at Auschwitz-Birkenau that draws thousands from Israel.
Peleg said Polish leaders have told him they might move all Israel-related matters to a different ministry to make Israeli-Polish cooperation on such matters easier -- a move he supports.
A new prime minister and Cabinet are expected to take office in coming days after Law and Justice accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz on Saturday. |
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