American Jews are aligning with Israel against Poland's Holocaust law and have launched a broad campaign calling on the American administration to "suspend relations with Poland until the 'Holocaust denial law' is repealed."
In a campaign video sponsored by the Ruderman Family Foundation that asks Americans and Israelis to sign an online petition against the legislation – which criminalizes the attribution of Nazi crimes to the Polish state or people – activists defiantly repeat the phrase "Polish Holocaust" and declare they are ready "to be locked up" in Polish jails.
"Jews will never again be silenced," they say in the video.
The video points out that "3.5 million Jews" were murdered in Poland during World War II, among them hundreds of thousands of children.
The campaign will consist of billboards in the U.S., Israel and Poland, along with a prominent digital presence online. The video has also been translated into Polish.
The Polish legislation has caused a diplomatic row with Israel, and earlier this week Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned his Polish counterpart for saying Jews were perpetrators in World War II in addition to Poles and others.
The dispute has also sparked an eruption of anti-Semitic comments in public debates in Poland and has led to rising anxiety in the country's Jewish community.
Jay Ruderman, the president of the Ruderman Family Foundation, told Israel Hayom: "We are standing with Israel in consternation over the Polish law and in the fight against it; and no less, in our reservations over Poland's conduct in the aftermath of the law's passing. To my sorrow, we are seeing acts of denial regarding the role Poles played in the Holocaust, which is turning into actual anti-Semitism before our very eyes.
"This isn't a problem for Israel; it is a problem for all Jews everywhere. We launched a campaign calling on the United States to suspend diplomatic ties with Poland until this law denying Polish culpability in the Holocaust is repealed, and we are calling on every Jew and non-Jew who wants to fight the law to sign our petition."
Meanwhile, one of Poland's most senior lawmakers suggested on Tuesday that it was time to back away from the new law.
According to a Bloomberg report, Stanislaw Karczewski, the speaker of Poland's upper house of parliament, said the country's diplomatic efforts to explain the law may have stalled.
"I'm not sure if we haven't reached the wall, a dead end. Maybe we should say stop and not say anything else," Karczewski told Poland's TVN24, Bloomberg reported. "I'm convinced this law won't be applied. One would have to be irresponsible to do something that could provoke even more emotions."
The online petition can be found here.
