31 July 2007
Israel’s ambassador to Poland, David Peleg, has called on Catholic leaders and the Polish government to condemn a controversial priest for making anti-Jewish comments. Tadeusz Rydzyk, a Catholic priest who runs an ultra-conservative press and broadcast empire that includes the Catholic station “Radio Maryja”, reportedly depicted Jews as greedy because of property restitution claims, and he criticized Polish president Lech Kaczynski for supporting the building of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, slated to open in 2009.
Rydzyk's comments were made public earlier this month in the Polish weekly magazine “Wprost”. He has responded to criticism by saying he never meant to offend anyone. However, “Radio Maryja” has a history of airing anti-Semitic commentaries. Ambassador Peleg told the Associated Press news service: "I think that this is the strongest anti-Semitic remarks here in Poland [for decades].” He added: “I definitely think that one of the aims of Father Rydzyk is to damage the very important dialogue which Catholics and Jews have developed. Peleg said he would also meet with the bishop of Lublin, who is in charge of Jewish-Catholic dialogue, to discuss the matter.
Peleg asked prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the president's twin brother, to condemn Rydzyk’s remarks, but the president and prime minister have so far withheld comment, saying they first needed to verify the authenticity of the recording obtained by “Wprost”.
