JERUSALEM, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Foreign Ministry reprimanded Deputy Polish Ambassador to Israel Piotr Kozlowski on Sunday, in the wake of the new Polish legislation barring any mention of crimes by the "Polish nation" during the Holocaust.
Kozlowski attended the meeting representing the Polish ambassador, who is currently abroad. He met with the Deputy Director General of the European Division and the Head of the Diaspora Division.
"Israel's opposition to the wording of the bill was conveyed to him," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The timing of the bill, on the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, "was particularly surprising and unfortunate," the statement added.
According to the ministry, the new legislation "will not help further the exposure of historical truth and may harm freedom of research, as well as prevent discussion of the historical message and legacy of World War II."
The ministry also urged the Polish government to amend the wording of the controversial bill before its final approval and "to conduct a dialogue with Israel on the subject."
After the 15-minute meeting, Kozlowski told reporters that the bill's intent "is by no means to whitewash history, but to safeguard it and the truth about the Holocaust, as well as to prevent its distortion."
The draft law, passed by the lower house of the Polish parliament on Friday, stipulates a maximum penalty of three years in prison for those who use phrases like "Polish death camps" to describe the killing sites operated by the Nazis in occupied Poland during World War II.
The approval sparked an outrage in Israel, with politicians and Holocaust survivors charging Poland is trying to deny the participation of Poles in crimes against the humanity during the World War II.
On Sunday, during the Israeli cabinet weekly meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the bill and said Israel "will not accept any attempt whatsoever to rewrite history."
"I expressed our clear position that it must be changed," he said, adding that Israel has "no tolerance for distorting the truth, historical revisionism or Holocaust denial."
Israel started to lobby against the bill in order to change its wording during the final stages of its approval. According to Netanyahu, the Israeli ambassador in Warsaw spoke with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki during a Holocaust memorial ceremony at Auschwitz Saturday night, and stressed that Israel expect the bill to be changed.
"During the week, the ambassador and her staff will hold contacts on this issue with the entire Polish leadership, including the prime minister, the president and the Senate," Netanyahu added.
About six million Jews were killed by the Nazis in World War II, many of them in the death camp of Auschwitz and other death camps in Poland.
