Konrad Kołodziejski: Israel does not treat Poland as an equal partner. We are a country that is used

In Israel, the political crisis is continuing at its best. Benjamin Netanyahu did not manage to form a new government in the situation of such a minimal electoral advantage of Likud, and another election was announced in the autumn. What does this situation have to do with Poland? Hopefully nothing, but - given the experience of involving Poland in Israeli internal disputes - this hope may turn out to be vain.

In the article on Polish-Israeli relations published in the latest issue of the weekly „Sieci”, I explained in quite detail what the problem is (anyone interested is welcome to read it). Good relations between our countries have always been a fiction, because they were based on a deep misunderstanding about the intentions of both sides. Deep historical divisions and quite contemporary differences of interest have made it impossible, and still prevent, to build any normal relationship. Israel does not treat Poland as an equal partner. We are a country that is used. Poland is used in the international arena as well as in internal political games. We are a monkey in a cage that is given a banana to keep it calm, or a monkey that is beaten when one wants it to yell.

In addition, it turns out that the helm of Israeli diplomacy has been permanently entrusted to Israel Katz, the former head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who, in his thankfulness for the Warsaw Middle East summit, quoted Icchak Szamir’s shameful words about Poles who ‘sucked in anti-Semitism with their mothers’ milk’. This certainly has further complicates mutual relations, because it is hard for me to imagine any contacts of Polish diplomacy with someone who allows such words.

As I wrote in my article:

if you can wish for something, it’s only that the Cold War between us is replaced by the Cold Peace. This is the only thing we can fight for. This postulate seems to be even more topical at present, although it is not unlikely that the current political situation in Israel may hinder the implementation of even this modest task.