Middle East: The presidents of Poland and Israel insisted yesterday that their countries were firm friends, despite the presence of alleged anti-Semites in the Warsaw government.
"Poland is a true friend of the State of Israel. And the visit by the Polish president is another proof of extremely good relations between our two nations," President Moshe Katsav said during a welcome ceremony for his Polish counterpart, President Lech Kaczynski, in Jerusalem.
Israeli politicians castigated Poland's ruling party, which is dominated by Mr Kaczynski and his twin brother, Jaroslaw, for forming a coalition with the League of Polish Families (LPR), a group Jewish leaders have long shunned for its far-right views.
They were incensed when the Kaczynskis named LPR leader Roman Giertych as education minister, putting him in charge of overseeing Holocaust education in Poland and youth exchanges with Israel.
Israeli officials refused to work with Mr Giertych - who opposes anti-homophobia education in schools and champions classes in patriotism - and criticised the Kaczynskis' closeness to Radio Maryja, an ultra-Catholic broadcaster accused of anti-Semitic leanings.
"The Polish education minister is the president of a Polish party . . . that is an anti-Semitic party by definition, therefore we are not interested in having contacts with him," Israeli foreign ministry official Tali Samesh said recently.
Israel's ambassador to Warsaw, David Peleg, added: "We have a standing policy not to talk to LPR members, and this goes back before the formation of this coalition. I am not going to meet or to talk to Mr Giertych."
Mr Kaczynski yesterday signed an agreement on educational visits to Poland that appears to bypass Mr Giertych.
