Israel Attack's Polish Priest Over Accusations of Anti-Semitism

Israel: Condemn Polish Priests For Anti-Semitism

31 july 2007

By VANESSA GERA

WARSAW, Poland — Israel is urging Polish and Roman Catholic authorities to condemn a prominent priest over reported anti-Jewish comments, which its ambassador described yesterday as the worst case of anti-Semitic speech in Poland in decades.

Father Tadeusz Rydzyk, who runs a conservative press and broadcast empire that includes the Catholic station Radio Maryja, was allegedly caught on tape suggesting that Jews are greedy and that President Kaczynski of Poland is subservient to Jewish lobbies.

The remarks allegedly were made in the spring, but they only surfaced this month in the weekly magazine Wprost. Father Rydzyk himself has rejected accusations of anti-Semitism and said he "didn't intend to offend anyone."

Israel's ambassador to Poland, David Peleg, said the statements mark a setback in the progress Poland has made toward Jewish-Catholic reconciliation and in fighting anti-Semitism since the fall of communism.

He said extensive diplomatic efforts were under way to persuade Warsaw to condemn the priest.

"I think that this is the strongest anti-Semitic remark here in Poland since 1968," Mr. Peleg told the Associated Press. "We hope that the government, on one hand, and the Catholic Church, on the other hand, will make a statement condemning this anti-Semitic remark."

Mr. Peleg has asked the office of Prime Minister Kaczynski, as well as the foreign and justice ministries, to take action.

"I definitely think that one of the aims of Father Rydzyk is to damage the very important dialogue which Catholics and Jews have developed," Mr. Peleg said, adding that he would also meet today with a bishop in Lublin in charge of Jewish-Catholic dialogue.

So far, Poland's leaders have withheld comment, saying they were waiting to see if the tapes were authentic.

But the Rome-based Redemptorists — the missionary order to which Father Rydzyk belongs — supported him last week in Nasz Dziennik, a daily newspaper that belongs to Father Rydzyk's press and broadcast empire.