Source: Washington Post
Wire Service: AP
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/30/AR2007073000792.html
WARSAW, Poland -- Israel is urging Polish and Roman Catholic authorities to condemn a prominent priest over reported anti-Jewish comments, which its ambassador described Monday as the worst case of anti-Semitic speech in Poland in decades.
The Rev. Tadeusz Rydzyk, who runs a conservative media empire that includes the Catholic station Radio Maryja, was allegedly caught on tape suggesting that Jews are greedy and Polish President Lech Kaczynski is subservient to Jewish lobbies.
The remarks allegedly were made in the spring, but they only surfaced this month in the weekly magazine Wprost. Rydzyk himself has rejected accusations of anti-Semitism and said he "didn't intend to offend anyone."
Israel's ambassador to Poland, David Peleg, said the statements mark a setback in the progress Poland has made toward Jewish-Catholic reconciliation and in fighting anti-Semitism since the fall of Communism. He said extensive diplomatic efforts were under way to persuade Warsaw to condemn the priest.
"I think that this is the strongest anti-Semitic remark here in Poland since 1968," Peleg told The Associated Press. "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."