ANTI–SEMITISM IN POLAND BEING ‘NORMALIZED,’ EUROPEAN JEWISH GROUP WARNS:

There has been a "distinct normalization of anti-Semitism" in Poland, the European Jewish Congress (EJC) warned last week and called on the Polish government to respond forcefully. The EJC also expressed "grave concerns" over the deteriorating relationship between the Polish government and Poland's Jewish population at a time of rising anti-Semitism in the country, stating that no senior Polish government official has met with the Union of Jewish Communities in Poland, the democratic body responsible for representing Polish Jewry, in approximately one year. The EJC statement declared that Jewish community concerns have peaked following a string of anti-Semitic incidents in Poland. According to the statement, the rise in anti-Semitism "appears to have permeated many layers of Polish society. Recent incidents have included the appearance of flags of the far-Right ONR Falanga group at state ceremonies and Law and Justice member of parliament Bogdan Rzonca's social media post that said: "I wonder why, despite the Holocaust, there are so many abortionists among Jews." In August 2017, an Israeli soccer team was attacked by Polish hooligans following a soccer match near Warsaw. Also in August, Leslaw Piszewski, president of the Union of Jewish Communities in Poland, and Anna Chipczynska, president of the Jewish community in Warsaw, sent an open letter to a founder of the Law and Justice party stating that they were "fearful for their security as the situation in their country is becoming more dangerous." In 1939, Poland's Jewish population stood at over 3 million people, representing almost 10% of the country's citizens and the largest Jewish population in Europe. Today, it is estimated that there remain approximately 10,000 Jews in Poland. (J.Post) "Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, `Give them up!' and to the south, `Do not hold them back.' Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth." Isa 40:5-6