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| Polish Holocaust Death Camp |
Polish lawmakers approved a bill on Thursday that would impose jail
terms for suggesting Poland was complicit in the Holocaust, drawing
concern from the United States and outrage from Israel, which denounced
"any attempt to challenge historical truth."
Poland's ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) says the bill is needed
to protect Poland's reputation and ensure historians recognize that
Poles as well as Jews perished under the Nazis. Israeli officials said
it criminalizes basic historical facts.
The Senate voted on the bill in the early hours on Thursday and it
will now be sent to President Andrzej Duda, who has 21 days to decide
whether to sign it into law.
The president has not said whether he will sign the bill, but has
suggested he sympathizes with its aims. He told state television on
Monday: "The matter needs to be explained calmly, but we absolutely
cannot backtrack."
The bill would impose three years prison sentences for mentioning the
term "Polish death camps," although it says scientific research into the
Second World War would not be constrained.
Israel "adamantly opposes" the bill's approval, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
"Israel views with utmost gravity any attempt to challenge historical
truth.
No law will change the facts," ministry spokesperson Emmanuel
Nahshon said on Twitter.
Israeli Housing Minister Yoav Galant, one of several cabinet
ministers to denounce the bill, told Israel's Army Radio that he
considered it "de facto Holocaust denial."
The bill has come at a time when right-wing, anti-immigrant parties
like PiS have been in the ascendancy in Europe, especially in the former
Communist countries of the east. EU officials have expressed alarm over
the PiS administration in Poland, which they say has undermined the
rule of law by exerting pressure over the courts and media.
The socially conservative, nationalist PiS has reignited debate on
the Holocaust as part of a campaign to fuel patriotism since sweeping
into power in 2015.
The U.S. State Department said the legislation "could undermine free
speech and academic discourse" and Washington was concerned about the
repercussions it could have "on Poland's strategic interests and
relationships."
Read more: Warsaw lawmakers pass Holocaust bill to restrict term 'Polish death camps' - World - CBC News
