Outraged Israeli Officials Scold Poland: “You Can’t Falsify History”

The Polish answer to its role in the Nazi genocide machine, albeit seventy-five years after the fact, is to re-write history. Israelis, Jews and countless others affected by the Holocaust shared their disbelief at legislation passed on Friday that provides jail time for the ‘crime’ of referring to “Polish death camps.” The issue has accomplished the rare feat of uniting opposing parties in the Israeli parliament as opposition head Isaac Herzog called on Prime Minister Netanyahu to recall the Israeli ambassador to Warsaw – the traditional diplomatic sign of displeasure. For his part, Netanyahu ordered the Israeli ambassador to immediately meet the Polish prime minister and deliver his message of disbelief. Members of parliament from each of the principal parties issued public rebukes, and in some instances engaged in angry back-and-forth messaging with Polish officials on social media. The Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum and Documentation Center explained that although the death camps were built by German forces, it is wrong “to blur the historical truths regarding the assistance the Germans received from the Polish population during the Holocaust.”