Poland to summon Israeli ambassador over ‘outrageous’ comment in wake of killing of aid worker

A new diplomatic crisis between Poland and Israel has erupted following the death of a Polish aid worker in Gaza, with the Polish president denouncing a comment by the Israeli ambassador as “outrageous” and the Foreign Ministry in Warsaw saying it was summoning him for a meeting.

A 35-year-old Polish man was among seven people who were killed by a strike while delivering food to Palestinians with the charity World Central Kitchen. Israel has called the incident a “mistake” that followed a misidentification. The charity said its vehicles were clearly marked.

Amid shock in Poland over the death of the aid worker, Israel’s ambassador to Poland, Yacov Livne, pushed back at what he said were attempts by the “extreme right and left in Poland” to accuse Israel of “intentional murder in the attack.”

He said on social media on Tuesday that “anti-Semites will always remain anti-Semites, and Israel will remain a democratic Jewish state that fights for its right to exist. Also for the good of the entire Western world.”

Polish President Andrzej Duda calls the comment “outrageous” and describes the ambassador as “the biggest problem for the state of Israel in relations with Poland.”

Duda says authorities in Israel have spoken about the tragedy “in a very subdued way,” but adds, “Unfortunately, their ambassador to Poland is not able to maintain such delicacy and sensitivity, which is unacceptable.”

Prime Minister Donald Tusk, while a political opponent of Duda’s, voices a similar position.

He says that the comment was unacceptable and had offended Poles, and that the ambassador should apologize.

The deputy foreign minister was quoted in the Polish media as saying that Livne was summoned to a meeting on Friday morning.