Polish Jews protest TV interview with priest on Jews’ subjective ‘truth’

Representatives of Polish Jews complain to the state watchdog on media over a public broadcaster’s airing of an interview with a priest who said Jews have a unique understanding of the concept of truth.

Henryk Zielinski, editor-in-chief of the Catholic weekly Idziemy, said this on February 24 during an interview with TVP, according to a complaint the Union of Jewish Communities in Poland filed on Monday with Poland’s National Council of Radio and Television.

Jews have “a completely different system of values, a different concept of truth,” Zielinski said. “For us, the truth corresponds to facts. For the Jew, truth means something that conforms to his understanding of what’s beneficial. If a Jew is religious, then truth means something God wants.”

In non-religious Jews, “the truth is subjective or whatever serves Israel’s interests,” he added. Zielinski cited the Haggadah — a text read by Jews at the Passover Seder, which contains the story of the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt. “Often these stories have nothing to do with facts,” noted the Catholic priest.

The interviewer, Michał Karnowski, did not contest Zielinski’s assertions, according to the complaint.

Zielinski’s remarks violated the National Council of Radio and Television principles for content on public media, including its ban on ideas that “incite to hatred or discriminate on the grounds of race, disability, gender, religion or nationality,” the Jewish union writes in its complaint.

— JTA