Anti-Semitic posters have appeared across Warsaw in the run-up to Poland’s national elections, scheduled for 13 October, The Times of Israel reports.
There are images of prominent Jewish figures as well as former and current Israeli and US diplomats on the posters, which features the slogan “Beware of parasites”.
In particular, the posters feature US Ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher, former Israeli ambassador Anna Azari, and Poland’s Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich.
London-born Israeli activist for Holocaust commemoration Johnny Daniels, who can also be seen on the posters, wrote on his Facebook page that the slogan “Beware of parasites” is “play on words, with the word for 'Jew' as part of the word 'parasites'.”
Speaking to the Times of Israel, Daniels described the developments as “part of a greater problem”, adding that he filed a complaint with the police over the posters.
“We saw this before the EU elections a few months ago — there is always a wave of hate from the far-right about restitution,” he pointed out.
The posters claim that restitution to Jewish owners and their heirs of property that was seized during the Holocaust is a “mafia” programme, also urging Warsaw to “stop the Jewish occupation” of Poland.
Warsaw Denies Reports on Duda’s Accusations Against Israel Over Anti-Semitism
The developments come after Polish President Andrzej Duda’s press service denied a report that he accused Israel of instigating recent anti-Semitic incidents in Poland.
“The quote is not only inaccurate. It is plainly not true. President Duda never said that ‘Israel is responsible for recent anti-Semitic attacks in Poland.’ All participants of the said meeting can corroborate this. The Jewish Insider made this up,” presidential spokesman Blazej Spychalski told The Times of Israel.
He referred to a report on the Jewish Insider website which quoted several unnamed sources who attended Duda’s meeting with American Jewish officials as saying that the Polish President claimed that previous offensive comments by the Israeli Foreign Minister had caused an increase in anti-Semitism in Poland.
Shortly after his appointment as Israel’s top diplomat in February, Yisrael Katz argued on television that Poland collaborated with the Nazis during World War II and claimed, citing former Israeli Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir, that the Poles were "taking in anti-Semitism with their mothers' milk".
The press service of the Polish Foreign Ministry said at the time that Israeli Ambassador [to Poland] Anna Azari has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry over Katz’s remarks.
The ministry added that the remarks were nothing short of "insulting", urging the Israeli authorities to react to the incident in an acceptable manner.
In a separate development on February, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly accused the Poles of collaborating with the Nazis when commenting on the Polish law that criminalises any accusations against Poland of complicity in WWII war crimes, including the Holocaust.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry later said that Netanyahu's words were misrepresented by media and stressed that he was speaking about "Poles and not the Polish people or the country of Poland”.