“I came here with a very clear message: we want relations between Israel and Poland to get back on the right track, i.e. to the state they were in before the series of crises that began in 2018”, states the new Israeli ambassador to Warsaw, Yaakov Livne, in an interview with the Rzeczpospolita daily.

Asked by the newspaper whether Poland is still perceived by Israeli diplomacy as an anti-Semitic, anti-liberal and anti-democratic country, the Israeli ambassador expressed his belief that his presentation of letters of credence to President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday is another important step on the track to restoring normal, good relations between Israel and Poland.

“We wish such relation as we had before the series of crises that began in January 2018. I believe that there is a sincere will in Jerusalem and Warsaw that we want this together. I came here a few months ago with a very clear message from the then head of the Foreign Ministry and now Prime Minister Jair Lapid. The message is that we want relations to get back on the right track”, he said.

The newspaper asked the ambassador about Israel’s relations with Russia and the imposition of sanctions on Moscow, which Israel does not participate in.

“We cannot ignore the fact that we have an extremely difficult situation on our northern border including fundamentalists, extremists. The Iranian regime is doing everything to turn this area into Syria, into a place from which its affiliated forces can attack us. It is also no secret that Russian aviation has maintained a presence in Syria since 2015 and that it would be extremely difficult for Israel to pursue such a policy without dialogue with Moscow. For Israel’s security, the most important problem is the threat from Iran, a country that announces every now and then that it wants to destroy the only Jewish state in the world, with nuclear weapons or otherwise. We have to take this into account”, Livne said in response.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński