Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski demonstratively abandoned an interview with the Polish TVN network yesterday (Tuesday) after the presenter asked him whether his wife's Jewish origin would harm his chances as a potential candidate in next year's presidential elections.
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According to a report by Dov Gil-Har in 'Kan Khades', Anne Applebaum, Sikorski's wife, is a respected Jewish-American journalist and author, winner of the Pulitzer Prize. She was an editor at The Economist and an editorial board member at The Washington Post. She married Sikorski in 1992 while she was a correspondent in Warsaw, and he served as speaker of the Polish parliament.
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Sikorski was announced on Saturday as one of two candidates to run in primary elections being held by the Civic Coalition - Poland's main ruling party, to select a candidate to run on its behalf for the Polish presidency.
In an interview last night on TVN, presenter Monika Oleynik asked for his response to the news that unknown sources in his party claimed that his wife's origin "constitutes a problem" - in allusion to her Jewishness.
Sikorski responded sarcastically: "I would say that there is already a secular tradition that the first lady should be a person of Jewish origin..." The current first lady of Poland, Agata Kornhauser-Duda, had a Jewish grandfather. Her predecessor, Anna Komorowski, had a Jewish mother.
At this point, Sikorsky got up and left the studio.
After leaving the studio, the Polish minister tweeted: "Contrary to insinuations, we are not an anti-Semitic country.""@DovGilHar pic.twitter.com/fzBw6dfoxp https://t.co/khG5IzrKJG
— Here News (@kann_news) November 13, 2024
Shortly afterwards, Sikorski posted a tweet on Twitter in which he wrote: "Making the origin of a candidate's wife an issue in the presidential election is unacceptable. Contrary to Ms. Oleynik's insinuations, we are not a country of anti-Semites. I demand that TVN restore journalistic standards.".
An international study published last year by the Anti-Defamation League found that over a third of Polish residents "hold anti-Semitic views" – the second highest figure among the ten European countries surveyed.
