Poland-Israel tensions rise over killing of Polish aid worker in Gaza

A new diplomatic crisis has erupted between Poland and Israel over the death of a Polish aid worker in Gaza, with the Polish president denouncing a comment by the Israeli ambassador as "outrageous" and the foreign ministry in Warsaw saying it would summon him for a meeting.

A 35-year-old Polish man was among seven people who were killed while delivering food to besieged Palestinians with the charity World Central Kitchen. Israel has called the incident a “mistake" that followed a misidentification. The charity said its vehicles were "clearly" marked.

Amid shock in Poland over the death of the charity worker, Israel's ambassador to Poland, Yacov Livne, pushed back at what he said were attempts by the “extreme right and left in Poland” to accuse Israel of "intentional murder in the attack."

He said on social media Tuesday that “anti-Semites will always remain anti-Semites, and Israel will remain a democratic Jewish state that fights for its right to exist. Also for the good of the entire Western world.”

Polish President Andrzej Duda on Thursday called the comment “outrageous” and described the ambassador as “the biggest problem for the state of Israel in relations with Poland.”

Duda said authorities in Israel have spoken about the tragedy “in a very subdued way," but added, "Unfortunately, their ambassador to Poland is not able to maintain such delicacy and sensitivity, which is unacceptable.”

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, although a political opponent of Duda, took a similar stance. He said on Thursday that the comment had offended Poles, and said that the ambassador should apologise.

The deputy foreign minister was quoted in the Polish media as saying that Livne was summoned to a meeting on Friday morning.

A day earlier, Tusk published a comment on social media addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Livne saying that “the vast majority of Poles showed full solidarity with Israel after the Hamas attack. Today you are putting this solidarity to a really hard test. The tragic attack on volunteers and your reaction arouse understandable anger.”

Duda on Thursday also called for Israel to pay "appropriate compensation" to the family of the aid worker, Damian Sobol.

Sobol had been on an aid mission to Gaza for the past six months following work in Ukraine, Morocco and Türkiye.

Polish-Israeli relationship Polish-Israeli relations have recently been on the upswing after several difficult years.

Relations have been badly damaged by disputes over how to commemorate Polish behaviour during the Holocaust, when Nazi Germany occupied Poland and carried out the mass murder of Jews.

Poland's former government played down Polish participation in the German killings of Jews and focused largely on Polish aid to Jews. Israel's government believed that approach amounted to historical distortion.

Israel also objected to a law limiting property restitution claims, which affected the heirs of Polish Holocaust victims, and recalled its ambassador in 2021 before sending Livne the following year as relations improved.

Duda said that “we agreed to have this representative finally be in Poland to facilitate Israel’s relations with Poland,” but that the ambassador now “is making these relations more difficult.”