Poland condemns assault on its ambassador to Israel

By Zehra Nur Duz

WARSAW (AA) - Poland’s prime minister expressed concern Wednesday for an assault by a man in Israel on his ambassador to Israel, Marek Magierowski.

“Poland strongly condemns this xenophobic act of aggression. Violence against diplomats or any other citizens should never be tolerated,” Mateusz Morawiecki wrote on Twitter.

Magierowski was assaulted by a man in Tel Aviv Tuesday who yelled “Polish.”

The incident was described as xenophobic by Polish officials.

The Polish foreign ministry summoned Israeli Ambassador to Warsaw Anna Azari over the assault.

“The event is under police investigation. We express our fullest sympathy to the ambassador and our shock at the attack,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon.

Tension between Poland and Israel are running high recently.

Poland's foreign ministry announced Monday that it canceled an upcoming visit by an Israeli delegation to Warsaw due to "last minute changes in the composition of the delegation."

The changes made in the delegation suggested talks would primarily focus on property restitution of Jews living in Poland whose property was confiscated during the Holocaust in World War II.

And Poland's prime minister announced his country would not take part in a February meeting with Israeli officials after Israel's acting foreign minister said Polish people "suckle anti-Semitism with their mother’s milk."

A cultural and political alliance of four Central European states -- Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia -- known as the Visegrad Group, had planned to hold a summit in Israel.

But Poland announced Morawiecki would not attend after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Polish people “collaborated” with the Nazis during World War II.