Polish authorities on Wednesday banned a protest by nationalists in front of Israeli's embassy amid a diplomatic row over a new Polish bill regarding the Holocaust and the definition of Nazi death camps.
Israel objects to the bill adopted by Poland's rightwing-dominated parliament on Friday that sets fines or up to three years in jail for anyone who accuses the Polish nation or state of complicity with Nazi Germany's crimes or refers to Nazi death camps as Polish.
Israeli authorities see one of the bill's provisions as an attempt to deny Polish participation in Nazi Germany's extermination of Jews and feared that it would open the door to prosecuting any Holocaust survivors who mention Poles being involved in war crimes.
Polish authorities, however, insist that the proposed legislation explicitly protects any such testimony by survivors.
Polish nationalists, who back the new bill, had planned their protest for Wednesday evening but Warsaw regional governor Zdzislaw Sipiera banned it earlier the same day, citing safety concerns and protecting national interests.
"We have reason to believe that this could be a very large protest by several groups that could jeopardize Polish state interests... this is why I have decided to impose a ban on movement in this area (near the Israeli embassy) of Warsaw between January 31 to February 5th," Sipiera told reporters in Warsaw.
Three Polish nationalist and far-right groups had joined forces to organise the protest, including the All Poland Youth, the National Movement and the National Radical Camp (ONR). The latter group has roots that stretch back to a pre-World War II anti-semitic movement.
The new Polish bill has drawn a wave of protest from Israel and Jewish groups from across the globe.
Joining Israeli calls for the bill to be dropped, American Jewish Congress CEO David Harris on Tuesday urged Polish leaders "to withdraw the legislation and focus on education, not criminalisation, about inaccurate and harmful speech."
Polish President Andrzej Duda on Sunday sought to defuse the crisis by promising "a careful analysis of the final shape of the act" focused on provisions that have alarmed Israel.
But on Monday Duda told public broadcaster TVP that he was "flabbergasted" by Israel's "violent and very unfavourable reaction" to the bill.
"We absolutely can't back down, we have the right to defend the historical truth," he added.
To take effect, the bill still needs to be approved by the Senate -- which could modify it -- and Duda.