On June 11, 2020 B’nai Brith Canada reported:
The publisher of a Polish-language news outlet has been arrested and released by Peel Regional Police following a complaint filed by B’nai Brith Canada over antisemitic content.
In August, B’nai Brith exposed articles in Goniec, a Mississauga-based publication, in which Andrzej Kumor accused Jews and Zionists of having “terrorism in their blood,” and claimed that “Jews are spying on you” using the WhatsApp cellphone application. Kumor further alleged that the governments of the United States and Poland were being controlled by sinister Jewish forces… In October, Kumor ran unsuccessfully for a seat in Poland’s Parliament with the far-right Konfederacja (“Confederation”) party…”
On August 15, 2019 B’nai Brith Canada reported:
A B’nai Brith Canada investigation has uncovered frequent antisemitic and hateful material in a Canadian Polish-language newspaper. Content recently published in Goniec, a Mississauga-based news outlet run by Andrzej Kumor, accuses Jews and Zionists of having “terrorism in their blood” and urges readers to “stand up to the Jews” in response to fabricated attempts to destroy Poland.
In a series of incendiary articles, the outlet warns repeatedly of Jewish control over the Polish government through “puppet politicians” in the United States who favour “rewriting history” in the interest of the Israeli government. Authors on the site have also stated that Jews are “playing their old game” in trying to interfere in various governments, while calling the actions of Jewish organizations “racist” and “satanic.”
Andrzej Kumor’s response to B’nai Brith’s allegations
Here are excerpts from kresy.pl article:
The editor-in-chief of “Bishop” reported the whole situation in an article on his newspaper’s website. The police told him that the crime associated with him was “very serious”. Then they presented him with the prosecutor’s decision, which stated that the journalist in his comments “exceeded the limits of hate speech, but to a small extent.” Accordingly, he received a “formal warning”.
“Then the police registered the prosecutor’s office decision on the recorder, and I tried to refer to it, asking what to do to avoid hate speech (…). A police officer replied that he could not give me legal advice, but I should avoid controversial topics, and when they relate to a particular community, it would be safe to ask that community for an opinion before publication,” reports Andrzej Kumor. “To my answer that in my position it is difficult because virtually all the topics discussed are in some sense controversial, even those about the weather, there was no comment.”
The journalist was also instructed to avoid “generalizing responses,” such as “Jews have terrorism in their blood,” although his original statement referred to Zionists and cited criticism of Zionist terrorism by prominent Jewish activists.
“I asked if I had written that” Germans at Auschwitz were behaving like beasts”, could this be considered hate speech. I received the answer that it is possible that yes, because it is a generalization about the Germans as such and I should write “Nazis” because the Nazis are a political movement; here my argument was that Zionists are also a political movement, “writes Kumor. He was later informed that the prosecutor had decided to give him a warning.” (…) that’s why I was formally not charged and the case was not brought to court, and after reading the decision I was released.”
The head of “Bishop” noted that by talking to police officers he wanted to get information about the specific framework of the so-called “Hate speech” because in his discernment they are fluent and very broad. He was told that even if he reprints materials legally published in Poland, he could be held criminally responsible for their publication in Canada…
“I would like to inform you that we are aware that freedom of expression in Canada is very much limited by the new regulations. Those that relate to anti-Semitism – the so-called working definition of anti-Semitism – came into force last fall,” he noted.