One week ago, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution to combat Holocaust denial, co-initiated by Israel and Germany.
The decision passed unanimously, without a vote.
Nevertheless, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid found it appropriate to post a Twitter tweet after the decision was adopted, in which he expressed appreciation for the Polish government's decision to support the move, as if Poland - of all 193 countries, Iran for example - had a unique Holocaust denial phenomenon.
"This is the right thing to do," Lapid stressed, as a teacher who compliments a difficult-to-understand student.
Even when Lapid finally tries to reduce the great damage he has done to Israel-Poland relations, he fails to find the right approach.
I appreciate the Polish government's decision to support today's UN resolution on combating Holocaust denial around the world.
This is the right thing to do.
https://t.co/lfPP7NisUU
- Yair Lapid🟠 (@yairlapid) January 20, 2022
Exactly four years have passed since the beginning of the "Holocaust crisis" between Israel and Poland, and the two countries that are supposed to share a common Holocaust memory and have developed the closest alliances fail to overcome the deep chasm between them and the whims of populist politicians. Their personal agenda.
It began, as I recall, with the initial transfer in the Polish parliament of what was called in Israel a distortion of the "Holocaust Law," which sought to correct the injustice of throwing Holocaust responsibility on Poland or the Polish nation.
It had no attempt to rewrite history to exempt Poles, who were responsible for crimes against Jews during World War II.
It was intended, however, to prevent a historical writing according to which Poland or the Polish nation were responsible for the Holocaust.
The holding of the vote on the "law," which was at all just an addition to an existing law, on the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day four years ago, was a miserable and foolish move.
However, no less miserable and stupid were the belligerent reactions that came from Israel.
As well as the efforts to torpedo the announcement of the joint prime ministers who tried to end the crisis between the countries and produce a basis for a common historical evidence of the events of the Holocaust.
So are statements such as that "Poles suck anti-Semitism from their mother's milk" (former Foreign Minister Israel Katz), the expulsion of the Polish ambassador from Israel due to the passage of the "Property Law", which was also presented in a distorted interpretation in Israel for purely populist and opportunistic reasons. Incited, which place Poland at the top of the antisemitic countries in Europe.
Contributing to the crisis
Israeli politicians, who claim to speak on behalf of the memory of the Holocaust, contributed greatly during the ongoing crisis with Poland to the utter contempt of this sensitive issue and its terrible harm.
Was there not anti-Semitism in Poland?
There was and is, but Poland - under all its governments, has in recent years acted to deal with these demons.
Weren't there Poles who murdered Jews or handed them over to the Germans?
There were also were, but this was not a Polish phenomenon at all.
In fact, more than any other occupied European nation, Poles saved Jews, risking their lives and the lives of their families.
Many Poles also paid for it in their lives.
In recent years, the hard work of Polish diplomats to save Jews around the world has been exposed.
And yes, we also had Jewish collaborators who assisted the Nazis in the extermination work.
In Poland during the years of World War II there was great darkness and blackness, and quite a few patches of light, and in between them many shades of gray.
An exchange of ignorance-based accusations will not benefit the memory of the Holocaust.
On the other hand, a respectful mutual discourse on the aspects of the complex reality in that terrible period will allow both sides to learn and deepen knowledge.
For decades, we resented the fact that the Poles "annexed" the Jewish-Polish victims of the Holocaust and did not differentiate between their murdered and our murdered.
However, the Poles - especially the younger generations - will not internalize the horrors of the Holocaust if we do not allow them to feel the great loss from which their nation has suffered and is suffering as a result of the almost complete destruction of Polish Jewry.
There was one Holocaust.
And she's ours.
But it is also of other nations.
And when the Poles support the decision against Holocaust denial, they do so not to receive compliments from Israel, but out of an understanding of the importance of the matter to them.
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
If you found an error in the article, we'll be happy for you to share it with us