Comments on Nazis scuttle summit in Israel

Recent comments from top Israeli officials on Nazis and Poland scuttled a scheduled summit in Israel, the Associated Press reported Monday.

Poland pulled out of the summit Monday in protest over remarks made by acting Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz that Poles “collaborated with the Nazis” during World War II and “suckle antisemitism with their mother’s milk.”

Katz’s comments on Sunday come after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters that Poles had cooperated with the Nazis during the Holocaust while at a conference in Warsaw.

{mosads}Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Monday that Katz’s remarks were “racist and unacceptable,” according to Reuters.

“Not only can we not accept such racist comments, but with all our strength we want to stress that we will fight for historical truth, for the honor of Poles,” he told reporters.

The summit was supposed to be first of the Visegrad countries, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, outside of Europe.

Israel’s foreign affairs spokesman said Monday that the leaders of the other three countries would still visit Jerusalem and hold meetings with Netanyahu, but since Morawiecki would not be attending, it could not be considered a full Visegrad meeting.

Although historians have found some Polish people did collaborate with Nazi occupiers, the country’s government has sought to challenge the narrative of Polish involvement.