WARSAW: A spokeswoman for Poland’s prime minister sought on Sunday to downplay his words equating Polish collaborators in the Holocaust to alleged “Jewish perpetrators” by saying the remark was an invitation to a frank debate about World War II crimes against Jews.

Israeli politicians accused Polish Prime Minister Mat­eusz Morawiecki of anti-Semitism after his comment on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference, raising the temperature of a diplomatic dispute over Poland’s new law banning some statements about the Holocaust.

Morawiecki and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had their second telephone conversation in three weeks on Sunday and agreed to work together to soothe the intense feelings about World War II history in both countries.

Netanyahu’s office said he told Morawiecki that “a comparison between the activities of Poles and the activities of Jews during the Holo­c­aust is unfounded.”

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2018