(JNS.org) Polish-Jewish leaders are calling on the head of the country’s right-wing nationalist Law and Justice Party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, to denounce what they say is rising antisemitism within the Eastern European country. “We are appalled by recent events and fearful for our security as the situation in our country is becoming more dangerous,” Leslaw Piszewski, head of the Jewish community in Poland, and Anna Chipczynska, head of the Warsaw Jewish community, wrote in the letter, The Associated Press reported. The letter said there has been a “rise of antisemitic attitudes in recent months, accompanied by aggressive hate speech and violent behavior that are directed towards our community,” and called on Kaczynski to forcefully condemn the growing antisemitism. The letter points to a number of specific threats to Jews in Poland, including an attack last week on the visiting Israeli soccer team Hapoel Petach Tikva.

The Polish-Jewish leaders wrote that the current climate is reminiscent of 1968, when the former Communist government waged an antisemitic campaign that culminated in the expulsion of thousands of Jews. “We are afraid for our security and our future in Poland,” the Jewish leaders wrote to Kaczynski. “We do not want a return to the year 1968.”

CAP: The head of Poland’s Law and Justice Party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Photo: Piotr Drabik via Wikimedia Commons.