January 16, 2018 — Warsaw, Poland
An AJC delegation just concluded a two-day trip to Poland, highlighted by hour-long meetings with both President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
The group, led by AJC CEO David Harris, a frequent visitor to Poland, also met with U.S. Ambassador Paul Jones and Israeli Ambassador Anna Azari, as well as with Poland’s Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich and Leslaw Piszewski, Chairman of the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland, an AJC partner organization.
The primary topics of discussion included: (i) Poland’s priorities for its two-year term in the UN Security Council (2018-19); (ii) The current state of transatlantic relations and the mutually beneficial ties between Poland and the United States; (iii) The possibility for Poland to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, following its adoption by Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Romania, and the United Kingdom; (iv) Prospective plans to jointly celebrate Poland’s 100th and Israel’s 70th anniversaries of restored independence; and (v) Current issues between Poland and the European Union, as well as the growing threat of antisemitism and xenophobia in Europe.
“AJC has been uniquely involved with Poland for decades,” Harris noted. “We steadfastly supported Poland during the profoundly dramatic events of the 1980s and the defining moments thereafter, including advocating for Poland’s membership in both NATO and the European Union. Most recently, we opened our Warsaw-based AJC Central Europe office last spring, covering the three Baltic nations and the four Visegrád countries. We believe that 2018 provides a welcome opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to further deepening relations among Poland, the United States, Israel, and world Jewry.”
“In our meetings, we thanked Polish leaders for their vote in the UN General Assembly regarding Jerusalem in December, underscoring the country’s strategic link with Israel and close alliance with the U.S.,” Harris added.
During the visit, AJC Central Europe hosted a working dinner with the ambassadors of Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovakia, U.S. Ambassador Jones, Director of the Polish Foreign Ministry’s Department of the Americas Grzegorz Kozłowski, and the Estonian Deputy Ambassador.
Another highlight of the visit was a roundtable discussion in which Harris addressed the staff and invited guests of the Polish Institute of International Affairs, a prominent Polish think tank, on the transatlantic partnership, Central Europe, and the Middle East in the new political era.
The AJC delegation included Kim Pimley, Chair of AJC’s International Relations Commission; Simone Rodan, Director of AJC Europe; Agnieszka Markiewicz, Director of the AJC Shapiro Silverberg Central Europe Office; and Sebastian Rejak, AJC Central Europe Senior Program and Policy Officer.
