The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to open letter by American columnist Clifford D. Maypublished in “The Washington Times”. He raised the issue of the arrival of the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu to Poland.
Secretary of State Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski referred to May's wordswho claims that “last week” he said that if the Prime Minister of Israel appeared in Auschwitz-Birkenau to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the camp, he would be arrested.
“I expect The Washington Times to indicate the source of this statement. Mr. May does not cite it. The truth is that I've never said anything like that” – he emphasizes. Bartoszewski added that the letter is allegedly based “on my alleged statements and pseudo-facts, or maybe violate good Polish-Israeli and Polish-American relations“.
The American columnist wrote a letter to Sikorski. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs responds
Bartoszewski further emphasized Poland's position on the issue of the International Criminal Court issuing an arrest warrant for Binyamin Netanyahu. As he emphasized, Poland, as a signatory country of the Rome Statutes, respects the judgments of the ICC. “Mr. Editor May states that he should reject it and should not respect it. He reminds that Poland is safe thanks to Article 5 of the Washington Treaty,” Bartoszewski added.
In his opinion there is no contradiction here. “The Republic of Poland keeps agreements, international treaties and alliances. As in 2001, it kept its alliance United Stateswhen for the first time after the attack on the World Trade Center, Art. 5 of the Washington Treaty,” the Secretary of State wrote in a letter.
He recalled that at that time Poland sent thousands of soldiers to war Afghanistanwho “fought side by side with American allies, including taking control of Ghazni province.”
Middle East. Columnist on Israel and the ICC order
“Finally, let me add a personal touch. I have been trying to work for Israel for years and relations with Israel since the 1980s, following in the footsteps of his father Władysław Bartoszewski – a former prisoner of the Auschwitz camp and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, an honorary citizen of Israel, a member of the International Auschwitz Council and, until his last days, a friend of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu – concluded his letter to the editor of “The Washington Times” Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski.
Clifford D. May's publication was published on December 24. The columnist emphasizes that his letter is informal and he asks the head of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Radosław Sikorski, directly: “What the hell are you thinking?” May refers to Bartoszewski's alleged words about Netanyahu, and then stated that, like Ukraine, Israel is a “free country under attack.”
Moreover, the American publicist estimated that if European countries do not change their approach to Israel, the new administration of the White House will fail may stop supporting Ukraine. “Of course you understand that if Putin is victorious in Ukraine, his troops and tanks will soon be on your border – and possibly crossing it,” May added.
Further on, the columnist listed several reasons why – in his opinion – Poland is not obliged to comply with the decisions of the International Criminal Court and asked that Radosław Sikorski contacted him to “discuss these or other issues.”