The IDF has decided to cancel the permanent delegations to Poland - a decision that could provoke a diplomatic crisis with Warsaw, Israel Hayom reported. Instead, the military delegations will now go to Lithuania, in a decision that has also provoked criticism.
The delegation project has been going on for about two decades, under the name "Witnesses in Uniform", in order to deepen the study of IDF officers of the events of the Holocaust. This is a project that began during the time of Maj. Gen. (Res.) MK Elazar Stern as Chief Education Officer, together with the then head of the Air Force Personnel Division, Brigadier General (Res.) Amir Hashakel. The idea was to expose IDF officers to the Holocaust, as well as to the rich Jewish culture that existed in Poland in the centuries that preceded it.
Over the years, the IDF has sent many hundreds of delegations to Poland. The delegations included career soldiers, trainees in various command courses, civilian IDF employees and reservists, and were accompanied by instructors from Yad Vashem.
The IDF placed great importance on these delegations, and also attached a Holocaust survivor to each of them, who testified to the soldiers about the atrocities he went through. The participants in the delegations conducted the tours in uniform wearing the Israeli flag, and participated in memorial ceremonies at the various sites. Some of the soldiers have described the delegations as the most most meaningful experience they had during their military service.
Other bodies - including the police, the Shabak, the prison service and more - joined this initiative, sending similar delegations to Poland. A senior source said, "Someone here is confused. It is true that relations with Poland have been faltering politically and diplomatically for a long time, but the military is not independent in making such a decision itself. It is not a military decision. It should be a political decision by the government or the Defense Ministry."
The decision provoked quite a bit of criticism in the IDF. The senior official added: "The Holocaust took place in Poland. It would have been better to wait and find a solution, rather than travel to other places. It's not serious".
Another source expressed concern that the decision would lead to a diplomatic crisis with Poland, which Israel now needs in the wake of the war in Ukraine and the effort to rescue Jews and Israelis from the country.
