Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz MorawieckiYoni Kempinski

Arik Lederman, a 65-year-old Herzliya resident suspected of spitting at Polish Ambassador Marek Magierowski, apologized for the incident Wednesday.

"I would like to express my apologies for the incident that occurred yesterday," Lederman wrote in a letter explaining the details of the incident, for which he was arrested.

"My family experienced the hardships of the Holocaust in Poland, and my appeal to the embassy was regarding the restitution of property," he wrote. |As part of the appeal, I encountered a disparaging attitude on the part of the staff of the embassy, ​​who called me a 'Yid' in Polish. The statement hurt me a lot."

"Immediately after that, I left the entrance to the embassy offices and started to walk toward cars parked on the street near the embassy, ​​the rough sidewalks in the area made it difficult for a convenient passage, and I innocently walked along the road, as he came out from behind a vehicle that honked and made me panic. For this I expressed resentment and did so in a way that I regret.

Lederman emphasized that "I certainly did not know about the identity of the vehicle's occupant or his job, and certainly did not know that the Polish ambassador in Israel was in the vehicle."

"As a result, I would like to express my sincere apologies for what happened, and I even asked my representatives to go to the embassy offices to apologize to the ambassador. I hope that the episode will come to an end and everything will be kept in proportion."

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki condemned the spitting incident as a “racist attack”, tweeting: “I am very worried to hear of a racist attack on @PLinIsrael ambassador @mmagierowski.”

“Poland strongly condemns this xenophobic act of aggression. Violence against diplomats or any other citizens should never be tolerated.”