Polish FM to summon Israeli ambassador after Yad Vashem misleading X post
Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has said he will summon the Israeli ambassador to Poland after Yad Vashem failed to correct an X post suggesting discrimination of Jews in Poland during WWII without a proper historical context.
On Sunday, Yad Vashem, Israel's memorial institution to the victims of the Holocaust, published a post on the X platform which read "Poland was the first country where Jews were forced to wear a distinctive badge in order to isolate them from the surrounding population." The post, however, did not mention that the country was under German occupation at the time.
It linked to an article describing the antisemitic regulation introduced in 1939. According to Yad Vashem, the decree was issued by Hans Frank, the governor of the German-occupied General Government, and required all Jews over the age of 10 to wear an armband bearing the Star of David.
The wording of the post itself prompted a reaction early on Monday from Sikorski, who wrote in response: "Please specify that it was 'German-occupied' Poland."
Later that day, Sikorski announced on X that "Since the misleading post has not been amended", he decided to summon the Israeli ambassador to Poland to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Also on Monday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was asked about Yad Vashem's post at a briefing in Luanda, Angola.
"I couldn't believe my eyes when I read it," he replied. "Yad Vashem is a serious institution... and Jews and this institution have no need to distort history, because it's so apparent."
Tusk further argued that it looks like "not even a mistake, but rather some ill will on the part of whoever edited this text, because it is so contrary to history, so obviously false, that sometimes we actually feel helpless."
He added that he hoped "this embarrassment" of the Jerusalem institute "will awaken their attention and conscience and they will not do such stupid things again."
The Auschwitz Memorial Museum also criticised the original phrasing, expressing astonishment that Yad Vashem would present the facts inaccurately. "They should be fully aware that Poland at that time was occupied by Germany, and that it was Germany that introduced and enforced this antisemitic law," the museum wrote.
Yad Vashem later later wrote: "As noted by many users and specified explicitly in the linked article, it was done by order of the German authorities." (PAP)
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