As part of today's outreach by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to Jews and friends of Israel that included a special roundtable talk to which Israeli journalists were invited, Morawiecki spoke to Arutz Sheva in greater detail about the importance of his message.
Asked what he wanted Holocaust survivors to understand Poland's new law, the Prime Minister said, "We are fighting for absolute historical truth. It would offend survivors of the Holocaust to mix perpetrators with victims, and this is what was happening in Poland over the last 25 years. Or, over the last 75 years, but the first 45 years after the Second World War, we were not happy enough that Israel was to be an independent state. We did not have independence. And communists did nasty things, even to Jews, in 1968, but these were not Poles, these were communists.
"In 1989 when we regained our independence, we were too weak and not wise enough to really fight for this truth, but as they say, better late than never, and we are starting today.
"The only thing that I would like to highlight to all the survivors is that we do not want to cover up any truth."
What would happen if you saw anti-Semitism appear as a result of this?
"I hope that won't be the case. In Poland the level of anti-Semitism is one of the lowest if not the lowest in Europe. When you see different actions like 'boycott Israeli products,' disinvest or sanctions on Israel, across Europe - across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, or the United Kingdom, you can really tell the difference between what is happening in Poland where even the small waves of anti-Semitism are really not dangerous. And by the way, if they are there - and they are there - we would like to erase them completely, to completely fight with them, and this is what my government will be doing."
Responding to the suggestion that Poland could reprove Israel for neglecting to comment on the bill earlier, since it has been on Poland's legislative agenda for two years, Morawiecki declined to drive a further diplomatic wedge between the nations: "Even if the legislation is passed, if there are provisions or articles to be clarified; if there are provisions which for some of our friends and brothers and sisters in Israel or in Poland or all over the world are unclear, we would like to clarify them, and there are ways in the Polish procedure to clarify them, even now."