Israel disturbed by Polish treatment of anti-racism activist

Israel’s Foreign Ministry says it is “very disturbed” that a Polish official has verbally attacked a leading anti-racism activist who spoke about Polish anti-Semitism at a recent conference in Jerusalem.

Spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon tweeted this afternoon that “this is not the way to deal with anti-Semitism — in Poland or anywhere!”

Rafal Pankowski, head of the Never Again association, gave a presentation last week at the Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism in Jerusalem in which he described examples of anti-Semitic rhetoric in Poland that have accompanied a controversial new Holocaust speech law.

Rafal Pankowski, co-founder of Never Again, was last week at #GFCA2018. @IsraelMFA is very disturbed to see the antisemitic attacks on Rafal in Poland, following the tweet by the Adviser of Poland's PM. This is not the way to deal with antisemitism – in Poland or anywhere!

— Emmanuel Nahshon ????️ (@EmmanuelNahshon) March 28, 2018

Andrzej Pawluszek, an adviser to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, later said that Pankowski had “attacked his own country.” Pankowski has since been denounced as a traitor and threatened in online comments.

— AP