Poznań Mayor Jacek Jaśkowiak told state news agency PAP he is against severing relations with Ra’anana, a Tel Aviv-area city that has been twinned with Poznań since 2010.
The petition, filed by members of the Razem party, calls for a break in ties in protest at what they described as Israel’s “genocidal” actions in Palestine.
“This is strong social support from Poznań residents who condemn the actions of the Israeli authorities,” Razem’s Anna Pieciul said.
Jaśkowiak said any move would be up to the city council. He acknowledged the scale of destruction and suffering in Gaza but rejected ending the partnership.
“The Palestinian Authority’s policy failed to control Hamas terrorists,” he said, expressing sorrow for civilian casualties.
“It is hard for me to agree with the scale of Israel’s actions and the suffering of the civilian population. I look with hope to what the peace plan will bring.”
He praised a Gaza peace plan signed in Egypt on Monday, calling it “a great success of President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu” and “a situation in which our civilization defeats Hamas terrorists.”
Asked whether Israel’s operations over the past two years prompted him to consider suspending cooperation, Jaśkowiak said he “lacked the intelligence available to Israeli and U.S. services to judge the proportionality of the response”.
He said he could understand that after years of rocket fire and the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, Israel deemed continued aggression intolerable.
“Bringing peace to this area is the responsibility of Prime Minister Netanyahu and the government of Israel, even if it involved sacrifices,” he said, adding that in his view Israeli actions were aimed primarily at Hamas and were not intended to exterminate a nation.
He argued the situation was not comparable to Polish cities cutting ties with Russian counterparts after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“The unlawful attack by Russia on Ukraine is something completely different from a situation in which Israel is harassed by terrorist attacks from Hamas or Hezbollah, supported and financed by Iran,” he said.
Jaśkowiak criticized Civic Coalition lawmaker Franciszek Sterczewski’s participation in the Global Sumud Flotilla headed for Gaza. He questioned whether the flotilla’s goal was real assistance or image-building, noting he had seen food trucks sent to civilians by the United States and aid groups in coordination with Israel.
“Actions by Polish parliamentarians should be agreed with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he said.
Razem’s Adam Jura-Czarnecki, presenting the petition on Monday, said it was “time for strong action, not friendly trips and learning civil defense from genocidal states.”
Jaśkowiak said he would travel to Israel in November to draw on that country’s expertise in urban security, including city monitoring systems that use algorithms to flag behavior indicating possible terrorist intent.
He added that, amid growing terrorist threats and actions by Russia testing Polish and NATO resilience, learning from Ukrainian and Israeli experience serves Poland’s security interests.
(jh)
Source: PAP