Poland’s Attitudes and Policy Towards Israel and Palestine after October 7th: Continuity and Change
- Joanna Dyduch
Abstract
Poland’s response to the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conf lict after October 7th, 2023, showed considerable continuity, though notable signs of change were also evident. Among the key transformative variables, one can point out: the post-election government change and the consequent realignment with the EU-Brussels stance, and the reorienting public attitudes due to the dramatically deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Gaza that were accompanied by new social phenomena as pro-Palestinian street protests and campus campaigns. The paper aims to provide a deeper understanding of the dynamics of continuity and change in Poland’s relations with Israel and its stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conf lict. This paper argues that the interplay of international developments and domestic circumstances has led Poland to distance itself from Israel. If this trend becomes a harmonized and institutionalized foreign policy approach, it may ultimately redefine the Poland-Israel relations. Against this backdrop, the paper examines key drivers of this shift and its potential short- and medium-term consequences.
Keywords
Poland, Israel, Palestine, October 7
Author Biography
Joanna Dyduch
Joanna Dyduch is a Associate professor at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, a political scientist, and an international relations scholar. She is the head of the Department of Israel at the Institute of the Middle and Far East. Her research interests focus on public policy analysis, including foreign policy. Empirically, her work concentrates on contemporary Israel, European Union and EU member states foreign policy, state policies towards the minorities (in particular Jews and Muslims in the Europe). Joanna was a visiting scholar in the City, University of London (2025) the University of Oxford (2023– 2024), the Maryland University (2022). University of Potsdam (2020) and a research fellow of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in 2018.