Poland's Israel Embassy Defaced After PM's Remarks

Swastikas and slurs were scrawled on the property
By Josh Gardner,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 18, 2018 3:23 PM CST
Swastiskas Scrawled on Polish Embassy in Israel
Swastikas were scrawled on Poland's embassy in Tel Aviv over the weekend.   (Police Spokespersons Unit)

Swastikas and profanity were reportedly scrawled on the property of the Polish embassy in Israel over the weekend in the wake of controversial remarks made by the country's prime minister about the Holocaust. The symbol of hate appeared on the entrance to the property in Tel Aviv on Sunday, one day after Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki publicly suggested that Jews, along with Poles and others, were among those responsible for aiding the Nazi genocide, Reuters reports. An estimated 3 million Jewish people living in Poland are believed to have been murdered by the Nazis prior to World War II. The markings were reportedly written in marker on both the gate and a bulletin board and included both swastikas and anti-Polish profanities. Police released photos of the vandalism and said they will be investigating the incident.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swiftly condemned Morawiecki's remarks after the Polish leader made them in response to an Israeli reporter's question regarding a new law in Poland that seeks to punish with jail time anyone who says the country was "responsible or complicit in the Nazi crimes committed by the Third German Reich." “The Polish prime minister’s remarks here in Munich are outrageous,” said Netanyahu after Morawiecki referenced "Jewish perpetrators" in his statement in the German city on Saturday, the Times of Israel reports. It is Morawiecki's stance that Poland was a victim of Nazi occupation and that most Polish people attempted to help their friends and neighbors as millions of Jews from across Europe were sent to death camps. (A secret forest birthday party for Hitler caused revulsion in Poland.)

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