Polish officials heading to Israel for talks on Holocaust law

PIC: Anna Stupnicka-Bando (L), 89, a Polish woman recognized by Yad Vashem for saving Jews during the Holocaust, speaks to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (R), in Warsaw on February 26, 2018. (AFP)

JERUSALEM - A high-level Polish government delegation will travel to Israel on Wednesday to hear the Jewish state's objections to a controversial Holocaust law, the Israeli foreign ministry said.

The law, passed by Poland's senate this month, ignited an unprecedented diplomatic row and calls in the Jewish state for the recall of Israel's ambassador in Warsaw.

It sets fines or up to three years in jail for anyone ascribing "responsibility or co-responsibility to the Polish nation or state for crimes committed by the German Third Reich".

The main aim is to prevent people from erroneously describing Nazi German death camps in Poland, such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, as Polish.

Israel has expressed deep concerns that the legislation could open the door to prosecuting Holocaust survivors for their testimony should it concern the involvement of individual Poles for allegedly killing or giving up Jews to the Germans.

An Israeli foreign ministry statement said on Tuesday that the Polish team would be headed by deputy foreign minister Bartosz Cichocki.

The Israeli side will be led by foreign ministry director general Yuval Rotem, backed by historians, jurists, diplomats and a representative of the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.

"The purpose of the dialogue is to preserve the historical truth and prevent harm to the freedom of research and expression," the statement said.

Poland's right-wing government has met with international criticism over the law, which was meant to protect Poland from false accusations of complicity in the Holocaust.

Israel sees it as a bid to deny the participation of individual Poles in killing Jews or handing them over to the Nazis.

Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany in World War II, losing six million of its citizens, including three million Jews.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki fuelled the dispute by saying that there were also "Jewish perpetrators" of the Holocaust, referring to Jews who served in police units in ghettos set up by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the remark "unacceptable" and tantamount to denying the Holocaust.

AFP