POLAND PRO-ISRAELI, BUT LESS SO
by Jerzy Haszczynski
Rzeczpospolita
Jan 13 2012
Poland
Understanding for Israel’s security concerns remains unshaken in
Poland. But the Polish Government no longer behaves every time the
way Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet would like it to.
On Sunday [ 22 Jan], Poland is meant to be visited by the most
controversial politician in that cabinet, Avigdor Lieberman, the
interior minister – known for his drastic ideas for resolving Israel’s
problems, such as incorporating into Israel the part of the occupied
West Bank of Jordan where there are numerous Jewish settlements,
and separating out the part where 450,000 Muslim Arabs live. And also
taking away the rights of Arabs who refuse to take an oath of loyalty
to Israel and do not serve military duty or an alternative thereof.
During a time particularly difficult for Israel, when the threat
of Iran producing an atomic bomb is growing ever closer and it
remains uncertain how the revolutions in the Arab countries will
end, such views are particularly problematic for diplomacy. And they
make it harder to support Israel, even for a country considered to
be pro-Israeli.
One can still hear Israeli politicians and experts saying that Poland
is such a country, and moreover one of Israel’s few allies.
Palestinian politicians say similar things, and reproachfully at that.
Poland still is pro-Israeli given the standards of the EU. Israel
is supported similarly or more strongly by the Czech Republic, the
Netherlands, Germany, and Italy (at least under Silvio Berlusconi).
Poland continues to boycott the international meetings called Durbans,
at which countries like Iran organize anti-Israeli hate-fests,
pointing to the Jewish state as the source of everything evil in the
world. Several weeks ago Poland also blocked an EU report initiated
by the United Kingdom, which spoke of the persecution of Israeli Arabs
and urged the EU member states to take patronage over Arab villages.
However, on other issues Poland has become more cautious than it
was just a few years ago. It did not want to promise Israel that it
would vote against a motion to recognize Palestine’s independence,
if one appeared at the UN General Assembly. At the same time it
promised, as Donald Tusk said distinctly, that it would not support
any resolution threatening Israel’s security. There continues to be
a strong understanding that Israel has to have the right to defend
itself from the enemies surrounding it.
On another important issue, Palestine’s acceptance into UNESCO, the
first serious international organization in which it conclusively
gained membership at the end of October, our country abstained from
voting (of the EU countries, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden
voted against, whereas France, Belgium, and other countries were in
favour). That vote pushed Poland into the group of moderate allies,
those not understanding the policies of the Netanyahu government,
which in times so difficult for the country has even been capable of
irritating the US President.
It was not just politicians and political analysts who noticed
that Poland has supported Israel over the past 20 years. That fact
reached ordinary Israelis. As I was told by a venerable Israeli
columnist, there are also a lot fewer comments being made that Poles
are anti-Semites, and a lot more sympathy to the old homeland of a
significant segment of citizens. This has also been contributed to
by cultural events, the renewal of Jewish festivals in Poland.
However, Poland has not gained the kind of good image in Israel
that Germany has, for instance, which seems unfair considering the
significance of the tragic heritage of WWII for the history of the
Jewish state.
And important Israeli politicians can do a lot on the image issue.
When Israel was anxious to gain Bulgaria’s support, Prime Minister
Netanyahu in Sofia delivered a speech in praise of the Bulgarians’
stance during WWII. Although they were allies of Hitler, they behaved
the best during the Holocaust – he said.
The debate now underway within Israel about the genocide of Ar menians
carried out by Turkey shows that even on such a touchy issue for a
state that treats the Holocaust as a one-of-a-kind event in history,
it is possible for wrongs committed against another nation to be
recognized. That has happened because the Israelis have seen the
Armenians, and the Armenian lobby that is strong in the West, as
allies in their clash against their former ally, Turkey.
Things are different as regards Poland. Several weeks after meeting
Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Benjamin Netanyahu appeared in an
advertisement intended to exert pressure concerning the issue of the
reinstatement of Jewish assets and the payment of compensation.
Irrespective of how one views the problem of reprivatization, which
remains unsolved in our country (and after all does not just pertain
to Jews), that was not a friendly gesture to Poland. It also came
as a considerable surprise to an ally whose diplomatic support is
frequently expected.
[translated from Polish]