Market Square in Wrocław, Poland, on June 30, 2016. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

i24 News – Honoring Israel’s Independence Day, on Tuesday evening, Poland illuminated their iconic Palace of Culture and Science in downtown Warsaw with the blue and white colors of the Jewish state.

Ambassador Yacov Livne called it a “vivid symbol of Israeli-Polish friendship.”

מחווה היסטורית: ורשה נצבעה בצבעי דגל ישראל. חג #עצמאות75 שמח !
On #israel75 Independence Day it’s heartwarming to see Warsaw lit up in the colors of our flag. A vivid symbol of Israeli-Polish friendship ?? ????
Thank you @warszawa thank you #Poland ! pic.twitter.com/aZ3RzOBFC0

— Amb. Yacov Livne ?? (@YacovLivne) April 25, 2023

Last week, municipal sirens and church bells rang out in the Polish capital to mark the beginning of the 80th anniversary commemorating the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, the largest act of Jewish resistance against the Nazis during World War II that lasted one month, but were eventually slaughtered by the Nazi forces.

Ties between the two countries were soured after a Polish law was passed that limited claims to property looted during World War II, and which Israel called “anti-Semitic.” Poland had recalled its ambassador to Israel in 2021 after a similar move by Jerusalem. Only last month, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen visited Warsaw and the two countries agreed to return their envoys.

During the visit, the two countries also signed an agreement to resume youth trips between both countries, which were stopped in 2022. Warsaw took issue that the visits in Poland were almost exclusively memorials and extermination camps, and that the groups were supervised by armed Israeli guards.

The Polish side emphasized at the time that the Israeli youth visiting France and Germany were not supervised by armed guards, and that this practice could give the impression that the youth were in greater danger in Poland.