Scoop: White House urged Israel to end Poland Holocaust bill dispute
Participants wave Israeli flags at the main gate of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp during the 'March of the Living.' Photo: Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
The Trump administration has urged Israel several times in the last few weeks to try to solve the crisis that erupted with Poland over a controversial law which makes it illegal to attribute crimes committed during the Holocaust to Poland.
A senior official at the Israeli foreign ministry told me: "The Americans made clear they don’t like the Holocaust law, think it is unacceptable and asked the Polish government to fix it. But at the same time they told us Poland is an important U.S. ally, especially in NATO, and also an Israeli ally and therefore there is a need to deal with the crisis carefully and not damage the alliance."
Senior Israeli officials told me the U.S. conveyed their messages in several channels both to the Israeli government and to opposition leaders and asked them to temper their public rhetoric against Poland:
The White House and State Department conveyed messages to Israel's ambassador in Washington, Ron Dermer, and to other diplomats at the Israeli embassy about the importance of relations with Poland. Similar messages were passed from Washington to the Prime Minister's office and the Foreign ministry in Jerusalem.
Vice President Pence met with the head of the Israeli opposition, Itzhak Herzog, on March 5 in Washington and raised the Poland crisis. An Israeli foreign ministry official said Pence asked Herzog to temper his critical statements against the Polish government and help solve the crisis, and Herzog stressed that the bill and the rhetoric about it from the Polish government were highly offensive and unacceptable. Herzog refused to comment for this story, as did the VP's office.
The State Department also asked the Israeli and Polish embassies to co-sponsor an annual Holocaust memorial day ceremony. Officials from both embassies also spoke at the ceremony on Wednesday.
The law:
The Holocaust law carries penalties of up to three years in prison, and is expected to apply to violators outside of Poland as well in the country.
After the uproar in Israel and the U.S., Polish President Andrzej Duda decided to use his authority and ask the constitutional court to review the law. The Polish government gave Israel a commitment not to implement it before the ruling.
Starting April 15th, the Polish constitutional court will be able to give its verdict on the Holocaust bill. Both the Polish ministry of Justice and the Polish human rights ombudsman have provided legal opinions which stress that several parts of the bill were either illegal or unconstitutional.
If the court orders the Polish parliament to review the bill and amend parts of it, that could lead to the end of the crisis with Israel.
Macron takes on climate change mantle in address to Congress
President Macron addressing a joint meeting of Congress on April 25, 2018. Photo: Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images
In one of the more emotional passages of his speech to Congress on Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron testified to the critical, existential nature of climate change, calling on President Trump to face the challenge with U.S. allies.
Why it matters: Since Trump announced in June 2017 his intention to eventually withdraw from, or renegotiate, the Paris Agreement, the issue of climate change has offered Macron a way to raise his profile as an international player. Although disappointed by Trump’s position, he has also paradoxically been one of its largest political beneficiaries, assuming for France the climate leadership role that the U.S. has vacated.
Throughout his speech, Macron sought to rise above political divisions on climate change, casting the issue as a generational, rather than partisan, challenge. But he did not mince words in his rebuke of the U.S. position on the Paris Agreement, which remains unique in the global community: "Let us face it," he said, "there is no Planet B.”
Macron balanced his admonitions with the acknowledgement of differing opinions on climate action, choosing to focus on the long run and extending an olive branch that moderate Republicans, and perhaps even Trump, could seize in due time.
What's next: Despite Trump's announcement, the earliest the U.S. could officially notify the UN of its intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement is late 2019, and withdrawal could not take place until late 2020. As long as the possibility of a U.S. reversal exists, Macron will have a tantalizing goal to which he can apply his charisma, energy and unique personal relationship with Trump.
David Livingston is deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center.
Go deeper: Read more at the Atlantic Council's New Atlanticist blog.
President Trump speaks with British Prime Minister Theresa May during a working dinner at the NATO summit. Photo: Matt Dunham/AFP via Getty Images
President Trump will make his first visit to the United Kingdom on July 13, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders announced while speaking to children visiting the White House for Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.
Why it matters: More than a year into his presidency, Trump still hasn't visited the U.K. — arguably the United States' closest ally. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Theresa May was the first foreign leader to visit Trump at the White House last January. Trump was initially scheduled to travel to London in February to open the newly-built U.S. embassy, but cancelled the trip in protest of the embassy's cost and location.
