2019-05-17 22:15 update: 2019-05-19, 17:37
Polish President Andrzej Duda Photo PAP/Rafał Guz
Polish President Andrzej Duda has written in a letter to the President of Israel Reuven Rivlin that he received the news of Tuesday's attack on Polish Ambassador in Tel Aviv Marek Magierowski with the greatest concern.
On Tuesday, Magierowski was physically and verbally abused by a man outside the Polish Embassy in Tel Aviv. On Thursday, Israeli prosecutors charged the man who attacked Magierowski with assault and threatening behaviour. The counts carry a maximum of five years' prison in Israel.
The Polish president pointed out in his letter, accessed by PAP, that this act is perceived in Poland as an expression of prejudice and hostility towards the state and the nation.
He stressed that behavior which compromises the security of foreign diplomats is unacceptable and that Polish authorities are even more frustrated by the reasons for the assault, and strongly disagree with "chauvinism and hate through a nationalist lens" and that "these sorts of positions need to be condemned and harshly punished."
Duda added that he is "counting on Israeli leaders to do their best to clarify and fairly judge the recent incident."
The Polish president also argued that, in Poland, which is the homeland of and home to thousands of Jews, all manifestations of anti-Semitism meet with strong opposition. He added that he also appreciated President Rivlin's commitment to build positive relations between Poland and Israel in a spirit of mutual respect.
According to Israeli police, 65-year-old Arik Lederman blocked Ambassador Marek Magierowski's car outside the Polish embassy in Tel Aviv on Tuesday and banged on its roof. The ambassador then rolled down the window to photograph him. Lederman opened the door and spat at the ambassador twice.
The picture of the attacker and his vehicle, taken by Magierowski, helped to arrest the attacker 90 minutes later.
On Wednesday, a court decision had placed Lederman under house arrest. A restraining order, lasting a period of 30 days, bans him from being in the vicinity of the Polish Embassy.
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Polish ambassador attacked in Tel Aviv
The Israeli portal Matzav reported on Thursday that Lederman had given a statement in which he has apologised for his actions and given his assurance that he was unware that the man he spat on was the Polish ambassador, adding that he personally wished to apologise to Magierowski.
In his statement, Lederman emphasised that his family had experienced the Holocaust, and that he had turned to the embassy in order to enquire about property restitution. He also accused a security guard at the embassy of using a derogatory term for a Jew towards him, Matzav reported.
Ambassador Magierowski, writing on Twitter, rejected the notion that the security guard could have allowed for such improper behaviour and the use of unacceptable language.
The attack drew strong condemnation from the Polish authorities. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote on Twitter that "Poland strongly condemns this xenophobic act of aggression. Violence against diplomats or any other citizens should never be tolerated."
Following Tuesday's attack in Tel Aviv, Israeli ambassador Anna Azari was summoned to the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday. Azari expressed her regrets over the incident and at the same time declared the assistance of the Israeli authorities in providing a full explanation of what had happened.
Emmanuel Nahshon, spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Twitter that the Jewish state was shocked by the attack. (PAP)
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