Especially for the readers of „Facts From Poland” we present fragments of an interview which Johny Daniels, the President of „From the Depth” foundation, gave to the weekly „Sieci”. Mr. Daniels works for good Polish-Israeli relations and is an influential figure, both in Israel and Poland.

What is happening? Someone has cut the tires on your car; you are also getting threats. In fact, one can also speak of a specific campaign in social media.

Mr Jonny Daniels: Indeed, recently I have faced a wave of aggressive attacks. It started about four or five months ago. I still haven’t got full clarity on what is the source of these attacks. Certainly, the people involved in the extremist right wing from marginal environments, are taking part in them. It is a part of a wider process, because these people attack everyone considered by them to be slightly differently thinking or having a different image of Poland. Attacks on my person are related to the wider problem of racism, anti-Semitism and hatred.

What do you associate the appearance of these attacks with?

It is clear to me that the whole situation related to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) - its adoption, and later withdrawal from some of the records, greatly harmed the Polish-Jewish relations. But this matter has also emboldened some people who would have been ashamed two years ago to publicly state what they are writing today in their tweets.

From the Polish perspective, a lot of evil has also been caused by a disproportionate reaction of Israel and Jewish environments that wound up emotions and which seemed to be an attack on Poland using a questionable pretext.

I would like to make this very clear: the hatred is present on both sides. People who live in Poland do not realize how severely I am being attacked by the extreme left in Israel, by marginal, still loud environments. These are, up to the present day, verbal attacks, but they are a fact. I have a strong impression that both of these groups - the extreme Polish right wing and the extreme Israeli left - are acting as peculiar partners in attacking me, and more broadly – attacking the people who destroy their image of the world. Some of the accusations, which I hear in Poland, have been fabricated by people who are against me back in Israel. The situation is absurd: people who attacked me for contacts with the Polish government, for the meetings with father Tadeusz Rydzyk, for my desire to dialogue, now actually cooperate with such Polish anti-Semites as those who attack me on the Internet.

So you are a problem for opponents of dialogue in both countries.

Yes. This also applies to many circles of the Jewish diaspora. And I know perfectly well why I am a problem for the extreme Israeli left. This was outlined in several statements and letters which were officially signed and published. I am perceived as someone who interferes with the implementation of property claims against Poland; as someone who destroys the leftist monopoly in the area of Polish-Jewish relations. The monopoly that has lasted for the last 30 years.

This monopoly was connected with imposing a distorted view on Polish-Jewish relations. Edward Mosberg, a Jew born in Krakow, a miracle survivor of the Holocaust, a great friend of Poland and Poles, a very wise man, has recently told me: Johny, of course there were also tragic events, there were Poles who murdered Jews, shmaltsovnics, very bad people, but it has all been inflated beyond all proportions, taken out of the context of German occupation. And I add from myself that these tragic events have been inscribed in a specific game, the aim of which is to obtain something from Poland, and within which Poland is supposed to be constantly attacked. The hidden premise of this mechanism is to stonewall the real dialogue. And yet our nations must move forward. We must openly and honestly discuss the issues that divide us. We cannot accept lies and manipulation. This is how I perceive my mission.

Mr Jonny Daniels was interviewed by Jacek Karnowski