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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, has accused Israel of using “excessive force” in response to Hamas’s attacks. He also called on Israel to “respect international humanitarian law” in its “occupation” of Gaza and the West Bank, saying that “no one has the right to cause children to starve”.
His remarks prompted a response from the incoming US ambassador to Poland, Thomas Rose, the former publisher of the Jerusalem Post, who said that Israel is “acting well within the bounds of international law even when its enemies flout its every precept”.
Dear Mr. Minister, Your question underscores just how morally unprecedented this situation is. As you well know, history offers no precedent where a terrorist group wages war for the explicit annihilation of a sovereign state, embeds itself among civilians, and then relies on… https://t.co/dCyDSA9e5P
— Tom Rose (@TomRoseIndy) August 2, 2025
Speaking to Polish news service Onet, Sikorski made clear that Israel’s actions were “provoked” by Hamas’s brutal attack on 7 October 2023. The foreign minister said that he “condemned Hamas for this criminal action, [which was] harmful to the Palestinian cause”.
But in its response, “Israel has used excessive force”, said Sikorski, “and today it is unclear what it is trying to achieve or whether what it is doing is even achieving that goal”.
“The number of victims is simply too high,” he continued. “Even when Israel acts in self defense, it is still not exempt from respecting international humanitarian law. And Poland strongly urges this.”
“We are a country that also experienced occupation and mass murder, and we have historical ties to Israel,” noted the Polish foreign minister. “But this does not mean that we accept everything Israel does.”
“Poland has always condemned illegal settlements in the West Bank. And let me remind you, we are a country that recognised Palestinian statehood many years ago,” he added. Poland has recognised the Palestinian state since 1988.
“There’s also the question of whether Israel has obligations stemming from being the state occupying Gaza and the West Bank,” continued Sikorski. “Poland’s position is that, yes, Israel is responsible for the well-being of these people. And we all see the results of this care.”
“Those starving children in Gaza don’t know what Hamas is,” he concluded. “No one has the right to cause children to starve, and according to our data, about 100 people in Gaza have already starved to death, including 80 children. And that’s unacceptable.”
Poland says it can “serve as an example” for Western countries now considering recognising Palestinian statehood, given that it has itself done so for almost four decades.
It has also announced an increase in aid for Palestinians https://t.co/wIv9pSOA02
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) July 31, 2025
Rose, who was nominated by Donald Trump in February as US ambassador to Poland and has recently been undergoing congressional hearings, responded by sharing Sikorski’s remarks on X and adding his own comments.
He noted that Israel is in a “morally unprecedented” situation whereby it is having to supply humanitarian aid to people among whom a terrorist organisation that wishes to annihilate it is embedded.
“Yet that is exactly what Israel has done—often under duress, often at great cost and risk to its own soldiers, and almost always without reciprocity,” wrote Rose. “Israel has provided more humanitarian aid to its mortal enemy than any combatant in the history of warfare.”
Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, also commented, writing on X that “Poland was, is, and will be on Israel’s side in its confrontation with Islamic terrorism, but never on the side of politicians whose actions lead to hunger and the death of mothers and children”.
Polska była, jest i będzie po stronie Izraela w jego konfrontacji z islamskim terroryzmem, ale nigdy po stronie polityków, których działania prowadzą do głodu i śmierci matek i dzieci. To musi być oczywiste dla narodów, które przeszły wspólnie przez piekło II wojny światowej.
— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) August 3, 2025
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Jaber Jehad Badwan/Wikimedia Commons (under CC BY-SA 4.0)
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.
