VANESSA GERA, WARSAW
Israel is urging Polish and Roman Catholic authorities to condemn a prominent priest over reported anti-Jewish comments, which its ambassador described as the worst anti-Semitic speech in Poland in decades.
The Rev Tadeusz Rydzyk, who runs a media empire that includes the Catholic station Radio Maryja, was allegedly caught on tape suggesting Jews were greedy and that Polish President Lech Kaczynski was subservient to Jewish lobbies.
The remarks were allegedly made in the spring, but surfaced only this month in a magazine. Rydzyk has rejected accusations of anti-Semitism and suggested the tapes were doctored.
Israel's ambassador to Poland, David Peleg, said the statements marked a setback towards Jewish-Catholic reconciliation in Poland and in fighting anti-Semitism, and said diplomatic efforts were under way to persuade Warsaw to condemn the priest.
Peleg called the comments the most anti-Jewish heard in Poland since Communist leaders launched a media campaign nearly 40 years ago that drove thousands of Jews to flee the country.
"I think that this is the strongest anti-Semitic remark here in Poland since 1968," Peleg said. "We hope that the government, on one hand, and the Catholic church, on the other hand, will make a statement condemning this anti-Semitic remark."
Peleg said he has asked the office of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, as well as the foreign and justice ministries, to take action. He said the Justice Ministry assured him it would make a statement after investigating.
Poland's leaders have so far withheld comment until they know if the tapes are genuine.
However, the Rome-based Redemptorists, the missionary order to which Rydzyk belongs, supported him in a statement published last week in Nasz Dziennik, a daily newspaper that belongs to Rydzyk's media empire.-AP
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