Israel–Poland relations

Shimon Peres in Poland

From the late 900s, Poland was home to one of the largest Jewish communities in Europe. In World War II and the Jewish genocide perpetrated by Germany, much of Poland's Jewish community was wiped out and the few who survived emigrated to other countries. Some 70,000 immigrated to Israel.[2]

On 29 November 1947 Poland voted in favor of the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, which led to the establishment of the state of Israel. On 19 May 1948 Poland recognized, and established diplomatic relations with, Israel.[3] In May 1948 Polish-born David Ben-Gurion became the new country's first prime minister. In September 1948 Israel opened its first diplomatic mission in Warsaw.[2] In June 1967, after the Six-Day War, Poland joined the Soviet-controlled Eastern Bloc in severing diplomatic relations with Israel.[3] In 1986 Poland initiated contacts with Israel. The two countries soon opened interest offices in each other's capitals, and in 1988 an Israel-Poland Chamber of Commerce was established.[4]

21st century

Israeli Air Force jets flying over Auschwitz concentration camp, 2003.

In February 2015 Poland and Israel celebrated 25 years of re-established diplomatic relations between them.[7]

In 1995, Israel signed an Association Agreement with the European Union which includes free trade and came into effect in 2000.[8] In 2004, Poland joined the European Union and trades freely with Israel. In 2016, trade between Israel and the European Union totaled €34.3 billion Euros[9] of which trade between Israel and Poland totaled $682 million USD.[9] Israel's main exports to Poland include: gas turbines, packaged medicaments, calcium phosphate, fruits and vegetables and medical instruments. Poland's main exports to Israel include: food based products, textiles processing machines, vehicle chassis, cars, buses, dairy and wheat.[9]

There are regular flights between Israel and Poland with the following airlines: Arkia, El Al, Enter Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Ryanair, Travel Service and Wizz Air.

Polish consulate, Jerusalem

Over the years, both Israel and Poland have signed numerous bilateral agreements such as an Agreement on Cooperation in Culture, Science and Education (1991); Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income (1991); Agreement on Cooperation in Culture, Science and Education (1991); Air Transport Agreement (1991); Agreement for the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments (1992); Agreement in the field of Economy, Science and Technology regarding Cooperation Applied to Agriculture and Food Industry (1993); Agreement on Technical Cooperation in Dairy Development (1997); Agreement on Cooperation in Tourism (1999); Agreement on the Abolition of Visa Requirement for holders of Ordinary and National Passports (2000); and an Agreement on Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in Customs Matters (2001).[22]

In early 2018 both chambers of the Polish parliament (the Sejm and Senate) adopted an Amendment to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance, criminalizing the ascription to Poles collectively of complicity in World War II Jewish-Holocaust-related or other war crimes committed by the Axis powers, and condemning use of the expression, "Polish death camp".[23][24][25] The law sparked a crisis in Polish-Israeli relations.[26] At the Munich Security Conference on 17 February that year, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said "it is not going to be seen as criminal to say that there were Polish perpetrators, as there were Jewish perpetrators, as there were Russian perpetrators, as there were Ukrainian perpetrators, not only German perpetrators."[27][28] His remark prompted a controversy, and condemnation by prominent Israeli politicians, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.[29][30][31] The crisis was resolved in late June that year when the Polish and Israeli prime ministers issued a joint communiqué endorsing research into the Jewish Holocaust and condemning the expression, "Polish concentration camps".[32]

Relations again deteriorated in February 2019 when during a visit to Poland, Netanyahu said, "Poles collaborated with the Nazis". Misquotes of this in the media as "the Poles collaborated with the Nazis" led Morawiecki to consider cancelling his planned visit to Israel the following month for a Visegrad Group summit.[33] Netanyahu's office clarified that this was a misquote by the Jerusalem Post, and he did not say "The Poles" but "a not insignificant number of Poles", an explanation accepted by the Polish government.[34] However, the dispute reignited 3 days later, when Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz claimed that "the Poles imbibe antisemitism from their mothers’ milk" and subsequently refused to apologise, resulting in Poland pulling out of the Visegrad Group summit altogether, leading to its cancellation.[35] U.S. Ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher remarked that there was no room for offensive comments,[36] and asked Israel to apologize.[37] New Right leader and cabinet minister Naftali Bennett noted that his wife’s family lived four years in a forest in Poland and were finally murdered by Poles.[38]

In February 2019, Poland cancelled an Israeli official delegation trip to Poland.[39] In May 2019, a man was arrested for spitting at Polish ambassador Marek Magierowski while he was sitting in his car near the embassy. The man apologized and explained that he had been upset by an antisemitic slur by an embassy guard.[40] Following comments by the Polish Prime Minister calling the incident "xenophobic", 29 former Polish ambassadors signed a letter criticizing the Polish government's response.[41]

• Israel has an embassy in Warsaw.[42]
• Poland has an embassy in Tel Aviv.[43]

• 
  Embassy of Israel in Warsaw
• 
  Embassy of Poland in Tel Aviv

• History of the Jews in Poland
• Jewish Roots in Poland
• Lauder – Morasha School
• List of Polish Jews
• "Polish death camp" controversy