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Images of Polish President Lech Kaczynski at the Western Wall in Jerusalem were used in an ad campaign labeled anti-Semitic. (AP)
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Last update - 14:51 16/10/2007
Polish right-wing party accused of running anti-Semitic campaign ad
By The Associated Press

WARSAW - A right-wing party ran a campaign ad Monday suggesting Polish lives have been put in danger in Iraq to serve Jewish and U.S. interests, and it immediately drew accusations of anti-Semitism.

The League of Polish Families' TV spot features footage of President Lech Kaczynski, first at a meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush, and then with Orthodox Jews at Israel's Western Wall, where he dons a yarmulke. The words Our allies, are flashed across the scene. "They put us in the line of attack."

A grim voiceover then warns: "It is our nation that is going to fall victim. Let the nation decide."
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The advertisement - issued as part of campaigning for Sunday's general election - sparked a firestorm of criticism. Jacek Kurski, a lawmaker with the governing Law and Justice party, slammed it as a pathetic masquerade that was seasoned with some anti-Semitism.

League of Polish Families leader Roman Giertych defended the spot, saying it was not anti-Semitic but insisting there is a connection between the war in Iraq and Israel.

"One can be against the war in Iraq without being an anti-Semite," Giertych said at a news conference.

"This ad shows the cooperation between Poland and the U.S., and Poland and Israel - we have a right to criticize it. The war in Iraq threatens our country and this is why the Polish troops should be pulled out from Iraq as soon as possible."

But Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, noted that the sequence of images was laid out in such a way as to provoke a negative feeling about Kaczynski being at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest place.

"You see the tanks, you feel bad, you see people being blown up, you feel bad, you see President Kaczynski at the Wall, you feel bad," he told the AP.

"Now the question is why should someone feel bad about President Kaczynski being at the Western Wall? What is negative about the president of the country visiting a holy site?"

Poland's Stop War movement, which opposes Polish involvement in Iraq, immediately distanced itself from the ad, saying it has strong anti-Semitic connotations.

Poland contributed combat troops to the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, and still has 900 soldiers stationed there.

The League of Polish Families, which served as a coalition partner in the conservative government of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski before being dismissed this summer, is fighting for its political survival.

Most opinion polls show it with between 2 and 4 percent support - below the 5 percent threshold needed to enter parliament.

It is not the first time the party has faced accusations of anti-Semitism.

Giertych's father and fellow party member Maciej Giertych, a European Union lawmaker, was reprimanded early this year by the European Parliament for publishing a brochure that described the Jewish people as a tragic community that tends to settle among the rich while still choosing to live in apartheid from the surrounding communities.

The party is also closely linked to a youth movement, the All-Polish Youth - founded by Giertych in 1989 - which has attacked gay rights activists and used Nazi slogans and gestures.

Maciej Giertych in November dismissed his assistant after a newspaper published a photo of her giving a straight-armed Nazi salute at an All-Polish Youth rally with a burning swastika in the background.

Giertych in December said his party had severed all ties with the radical youth wing after the swastika burning scandal.

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  1.   Yes You Can Criticise the War Without Being Anti Semitic 01:27  |  Brad 16/10/07
  2.   Polish right-wing party accused of running anti-Semitic campaign 02:10  |  David 16/10/07
  3.   UNFORTUNATELY POLES ARE A LOST CAUSE 05:12  |  D.Zbriniz 16/10/07
  4.   #3#Medieval Beliefs Stoke The Fires of Anti Semitism 06:26  |  P.Ontiffo 16/10/07
  5.   Kind of comic, if you`ve a black sense of humor 06:38  |  Colin Wright 16/10/07
  6.   Zbigniew 07:39  |  sweis Melbourne 16/10/07
  7.   poland is hell. 07:43  |  michel 16/10/07
  8.   Jews are not Semites 08:09  |  Moishe Shmulevich 16/10/07
  9.   RE Yes You Can Criticise the War Without Being Anti Semitic 08:21  |  Chris 16/10/07
  10.   This begs the obvious question... 08:26  |  Chris 16/10/07
  11.   #3 I am beginning to think `Jews` are a `lost cause` 08:26  |  Rowan Berkeley 16/10/07
  12.   No even one word against the jews! 08:50  |  Roxana from IRAN 16/10/07
  13.   Moishe Shmulevich 09:42  |  Marco Benatar 16/10/07
  14.   how about the anti-palestinianism ? 11:24  |  mehmet 16/10/07
  15.   Roxana 11:41  |  Dave 16/10/07
  16.   #9 Chris shows his real self 11:56  |  WWACD 16/10/07
  17.   Mehmet,free Kurds before venting your dumbo-mumbo 11:56  |  Absolute Sweden 16/10/07
  18.   Are you sure it`s not "Rowan London from Berkeley"? 12:05  |  WWACD 16/10/07
  19.   Rowan the painter 12:14  |  sweis Melbourne 16/10/07
  20.   Roxana and improper use of free speach 12:15  |  WWACD 16/10/07
  21.   mehmet 12:17  |  sweis Melbourne 16/10/07
  22.   So what? PLO does it all the time yet Olmert talks to them 12:21  |  Dudu 16/10/07
  23.   Didn`t Mossad provide much of the Iraq WMD info 12:30  |  Petteri 16/10/07
  24.   Roxana`s our resident genius 13:11  |  millie 16/10/07
  25.   Amazing 13:21  |  Matt 16/10/07
  26.   thank you WWACD 13:26  |  itsik 16/10/07
  27.   Petteri can`t write two lines without being racist 13:34  |  WWACD 16/10/07
  28.   #15 Dave 13:55  |  Drew 16/10/07
  29.   Itsik 14:05  |  WWACD 16/10/07
  30.   I agree with them, Israel + US = New Axis of Evil 14:08  |  WWACD 16/10/07
  31.   Drew 14:10  |  Dave 16/10/07
  32.   # 23 got proof, sources? Didn`t think so. 14:15  |  Petra 16/10/07
  33.   # 9 Chris, Your paost is the best testimony of 14:16  |  Max Zinger,P.Chimist 16/10/07
  34.   #30 - WWACD: Yay! my first copycat 14:19  |  WWACD 16/10/07
  35.   WWACD 14:23  |  You`re insane. 16/10/07
  36.   #27, WWACD 14:25  |  Frank 16/10/07
  37.   Frank NY 14:29  |  Jasmine Murphy 16/10/07
  38.   #36 frank 14:33  |  Steven 16/10/07
  39.   #12 Roxana from Irana, You have the sequences 14:41  |  Haham me Batyam 16/10/07
  40.   Polish anti-semitism...you call that news? 14:43  |  judith 16/10/07
  41.   Frank 14:44  |  WWACD 16/10/07
  42.   30 WWACD 14:49  |  Blue State-r 16/10/07
  43.   # 25 Matt in Dallas, It is true that there are only about 10,000 14:51  |  Haham me Bat yam 16/10/07
  44.   Wrong question, Max from Canada 15:06  |  WWACD 16/10/07
  45.   Polish Anti-Semitism 15:08  |  Texgotham 16/10/07
  46.   Are we just too sentitive or just ateention seekers? 15:10  |  Moshe 16/10/07
  47.   A picture is worth 1000 words- so use it 15:14  |  Max Zinger,P.Chimist 16/10/07
  48.   #15. Dave why do you get so insulting ,I thought 15:16  |  Fred 16/10/07
  49.   15#Dave from London?? 15:21  |  Becky 16/10/07
  50.   #14 - the hyporcrisy of mehmet 15:22  |  Eric 16/10/07
  51.   #12roxana and critics of islam ? the fake prophet 15:31  |  victor hardman 16/10/07
  52.   #44 Fred 15:31  |  WWACD 16/10/07
  53.   WWACD ESCAPES FROM PADDED CELL 15:33  |  paul harris 16/10/07
  54.   #13, Marco 15:40  |  Moishe Shmulevich 16/10/07
  55.   Becky 15:41  |  Dave 16/10/07
  56.   Ukraine is the worst case 15:45  |  Yatke Klotz 16/10/07
  57.   Fred 15:45  |  Dave 16/10/07
  58.   #53 - Paul "the capsman" Harris 15:48  |  WWACD 16/10/07
  59.   One other thing Becky 15:59  |  Dave 16/10/07
  60.   mehmet is dana is hannah 15:59  |  Danite 16/10/07
  61.   To #23: you are wrong about Mossad. 16:03  |  Jozef 16/10/07
  62.   # 15 Dave, did you get the point? 16:12  |  Roxana from IRAN 16/10/07
  63.   Roxana 16:21  |  Dave 16/10/07
  64.   #63 Dave 16:30  |  WWACD 16/10/07
  65.   Roxana #12 - you`re not thinking clearly 17:00  |  Polybios 16/10/07
  66.   #11 Rowan Berkely 17:25  |  Sol 16/10/07
  67.   Haham me Batyam 17:32  |  fk 16/10/07
  68.   I`m appaled what a frew 17:36  |  Kris 16/10/07
  69.   A Polish dream came true in WWII... 17:44  |  bat yam 16/10/07
  70.   For a nation so committed to killing Jews 60 years ago.. 18:05  |  Chick 16/10/07
  71.   # 67 Mr/Ms FK, stop this propaganda misinformation 18:13  |  Haham me Bat YAM 16/10/07
  72.   Looks like some things don`t change in Europe 18:26  |  Frederique 16/10/07
  73.   On this day 61 years ago 18:34  |  Peter XM 16/10/07
  74.   We have lost many young British men fighting for Israel too 18:38  |  Chris 16/10/07
  75.   #69 bat yam 18:39  |  Marcin 16/10/07
  76.   Marcin 19:01  |  ConnieM. 16/10/07
  77.   to nr 2 nnn 19:02  |  adam 16/10/07
  78.   # 75 Marcin, But Poland and its leaders did expel the Jews.. 19:16  |  Haham me Bat YAM 16/10/07
  79.   # 70 Chick in Chicago 19:22  |  Sam 16/10/07
  80.   #77 Adam, It is your past resonating through broadcasts 19:38  |  Max Zinger,P.Chimist 16/10/07
  81.