Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Poland
Poland: its Jewish history, the 2018 Holocaust law dispute and the killing of Damian Soból
Some 3,300,000 Jews lived in Poland on the eve of the Holocaust, the second-largest Jewish community in the world, and about 85% of them were murdered; about 10,000 Jews live there today, according to the World Jewish Congress (WJC).[1] In August 2026 Poland summoned the Israeli ambassador after "Israel" closed its investigation into the 2024 killing of the Polish aid worker Damian Soból.[2]
Jewish community
The Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland is the WJC's affiliate. The WJC calls Poland "the heartland of many of the great movements that shaped Jewish life, such as Hasidism, Zionism, and Jewish socialism". Emigration accelerated after the Kielce pogrom of July 1946, in which more than 40 Jews were murdered.[1]
Chabad
- Main article: Chabad-Lubavitch movement
The WJC notes that there is a Chabad House in Warsaw.[1]
Israeli state and commercial ties
Diplomacy
The Israeli foreign ministry's 2011 list of missions records relations with Poland as renewed in February 1990, with "Israel" represented by its embassy in Warsaw.[3] According to the WJC, full relations were resumed in 1990 after a 23-year break, and Warsaw has since "become one of Jerusalem's most important European allies". The Israeli embassy is at ul. Krzywickiego 24, 02-278 Warsaw.[1]
The 2018 Holocaust law dispute
A January 2018 amendment to Poland's Act on the Institute of National Remembrance caused a dispute with "Israel". On 27 June 2018 the prime ministers of the two countries, Benjamin Netanyahu and Mateusz Morawiecki, issued a joint declaration stating that the term "Polish concentration/death camps" is "blatantly erroneous", condemning "every single case of cruelty against Jews perpetrated by Poles" and rejecting both antisemitism and "anti-Polonism".[4] Yad Vashem historians issued a response to the joint statement on 5 July 2018.[5]
Killing of Damian Soból
Damian Soból, a Polish volunteer with World Central Kitchen, was one of seven aid workers killed when Israeli strikes hit the charity's convoy in Gaza on 1 April 2024.[6] On 20 August 2026 the Polish foreign ministry said that it was "greatly disappointed" that the Israeli military had discontinued its investigation, summoned the Israeli ambassador, and said that a parallel investigation was being carried out by the regional prosecutor's office in Przemyśl. It said that it "does not accept avoidance of legal and moral responsibility by the perpetrators".[2]
Arms trade
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) records Polish orders for thousands of Spike-LR anti-tank missiles under deals in 2003 (PLN1.49 billion, including production in Poland), 2015 (PLN602 million) and 2023, M-2032 radars for FA-50 aircraft (2022), and 18 STAR-X coastal surveillance radars (PLN430 million, 2025).[7]
Trade
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics reports that "Israel" imported goods worth $719.5 million from Poland in 2025 (2024: $610.1 million) and exported goods worth $578.8 million to it (2024: $371.2 million).[8]
Political interference
UN voting
Poland voted in favour of the September 2025 General Assembly resolution endorsing the New York Declaration on a two-state solution.[9]
See also
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Austria
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Czechia
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Hungary
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Portugal
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Slovakia
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Spain
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Switzerland
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 World Jewish Congress, Community in Poland worldjewishcongress.org, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, MFA statement gov.pl, 20 August 2026, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Diplomatic Missions Abroad: Status of relations mfa.gov.il, archived 5 August 2011.
- ↑ Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland, Joint declaration of prime ministers of the State of Israel and the Republic of Poland gov.pl, 27 June 2018, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Yad Vashem, Yad Vashem historians respond to the joint statement of the Governments of Poland and Israel concerning the revision of the 26 January 2018, amendment to Poland's Act on the Institute of National Remembrance yadvashem.org, 5 July 2018, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Reuters, Who were the World Central Kitchen aid workers killed in Gaza by Israel? Reuters, 3 April 2024, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Arms Transfers Database SIPRI, trade register for Israel as supplier, 1950–2025, data generated 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), Foreign Trade Statistics Monthly, Table D1: Trade Countries – Imports and Exports CBS, December 2025 issue (library copy).
- ↑ United Nations General Assembly, Recorded vote on A/80/L.1/Rev.1: Endorsement of the New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, 12 September 2025 (copy hosted by Al-Quds Al-Arabi).