Zionist Union slams Netanyahu for joint Polish - Israeli declaration

'In a moment we would have blamed the holocaust on ourselves', said MK Nahmias-Verbin.

By HAGAY HACOHEN
Updated: JULY 5, 2018 11:07
Two boys hug in front of the main railway building of the former Nazi death camp Birkenau (Auschwitz II) during the 'March of the Living' in Oswiecim, Poland (photo credit: KATARINA STOLTZ/ REUTERS)
Two boys hug in front of the main railway building of the former Nazi death camp Birkenau (Auschwitz II) during the 'March of the Living' in Oswiecim, Poland
(photo credit: KATARINA STOLTZ/ REUTERS)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's joint statement with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Poland's role in the Holocaust empowers Holocaust deniers, Zionist Union MK Itzik Shmuli said Thursday.
Shmuli called the statement, published as an advertisement in several Israeli newspapers including The Jerusalem Post, a "disgrace," and said Holocaust deniers should "send flowers to the Israeli government and the man leading it."
The joint statement was meant to resolve the conflict between the Polish and Israeli governments 
memory of the Holocaust with the Poles objecting to the usage of "Polish Death Camps," which reached its peak over a over a Polish law penalizing those who would accuse Poland of complicity with the Nazis.
Israelis condemn Polish law that bans using the phrase "Polish death camps"
The Israelis, as well as Jewish activists and historians around the world, warning that Poland might be whitewashing the historical truth that included Poles who harmed Jews while being under Nazi rule. 
"The fact that the Polish government began a public relations operation in which it waves these ads to prove that Israel allegedly removes all guilt and responsibility from the Poles is terrible and disgraceful", said Shmuli.
"In a moment we would have taken the responsibility over the Holocaust on ourselves," said Nahmias-Verbin.
Nahmias-Verbin added that the declaration reminds her of the way in which Israel patched up relations with Turkey after the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid in which 9 passengers were killed and 30 wounded when IDF forced raided the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish ship with mostly Turkish citizens on board.  
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The government of Israel eventually apologized to the government of Turkey in 2013 and in 2016 paid 20 million USD in compensation.
Israeli historian Yehuda Bauer also slammed the Polish-Israeli declaration earlier this week, claiming it paved the way to the Polish government to decide what it the "right" history and act against anyone who disagrees, which he called a betrayal of the memory of the Holocaust.