Auschwitz Museum criticises Israeli ambassador for “gas chambers in Poland” comment

Israel’s ambassador to Poland, Yacov Livne, has been criticised by the Auschwitz Museum for referring to “gas chambers in Poland” while discussing pro-Palestinian protests. His remarks were also criticised by Polish politicians, one of whom called for the ambassador to be expelled.

On Wednesday, Livne commented on a claim that environmental activist Greta Thunberg had joined pro-Palestinian protesters in chanting “Jews, go back to Poland”. Such chants refer to the fact that many Jewish settlers in what is now Israel came from Poland.

“Some antisemites seem to miss the Palestinian leader, Haj Amin Husseini, a Nazi collaborator who also wanted Jews to go to Poland – more precisely to the gas chambers in Poland,” tweeted Livne, alongside a photograph of Husseini, the mufti of Jerusalem, meeting German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop in 1941.

Beneath his post, the Auschwitz Museum, which is a Polish state institution, asked the ambassador to show “more precision” in his remarks.

“Jews were murdered in gas chambers that were built either within the occupied Polish territory annexed directly to Germany (like Auschwitz or Kulmhof) or in the General Government established [in occupied Poland] by the Third Reich (like Treblinka or Sobibor),” wrote the museum.

Polish state institutions have long campaigned for international media and public figures to avoid terminology that could suggest the Nazi-German camps in occupied Polish territory were somehow the responsibility of Poland, which ceased to exist as a country after being invaded by Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939.

The camps were constructed and run by Nazi Germany. Ethnic Poles were, after Jews, numerically the largest group of victims of those camps.

Livne was also criticised by Polish politicians and commentators for his wording.

“Diplomats should weigh their words,” Borys Budka, a politician from the ruling coalition who served as minister for state assets until last week, told Polskie Radio. “Israel in particular should remember that words matter in such cases.”

Sebastian Kaleta, an MP from right-wing opposition party Sovereign Poland (Suwerenna Polska) and a former deputy justice minister, said that Livne “should absolutely be expelled from Poland”.

Livne himself appeared to accept that his phrasing had not been clear, writing in response to the Auschwitz Museum’s message that “indeed, the gas chambers were built by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland, and there is no question about that”.

The Israeli ambassador has been at the heart of growing recent tensions between Poland and Israel, in particular following the death of a Polish aid worker, Damian Soból, during the Israeli strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy in Gaza.

Livne’s initial refusal to apologise for the incident – and his claims that some Polish politicians were stoking antisemitism by suggesting Israel deliberately attacked the convoy – caused anger in Poland. President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk were among those to criticise him.

Subsequently, Livne was summoned to the Polish foreign ministry, where he delivered an apology.

This week, the ambassador was also rebuked by Polish foreign minister Radosław Sikorski after Livne criticised Poland for supporting Palestinian membership of the UN.

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Main image credit: Jakub Porzycki / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.