Polish Jews condemn election ads as anti-Semitic

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's main Jewish group has condemned election broadcasts by a far-right party that link Poland's unpopular involvement in the Iraq war to the ruling Kaczynski twins' friendship with Israel.

The 30-second television spot by the League of Polish Families mixes images of Polish troops in Iraq and violence in the Middle East with pictures of President Lech Kaczynski wearing a skull cap on a visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

"This is an attempt to attract people with anti-Semitic views," said Piotr Kadlcik, the leader of the Jewish Religious Communities in Poland, which released a statement condemning the advert.

"This is what happens with unpopular products -- they have to shock to get noticed," Kadlcik told Reuters on Wednesday.

Poland holds an early parliamentary election on October 21 in which Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the president's twin brother, is fighting for re-election. The Kaczynskis are close U.S. allies and friends of Israel.

The League of Polish Families, often accused of xenophobia, rejected the accusation of anti-Semitism in the television spot.

"That's rubbish," said party official Miroslaw Orzechowski. "We are just against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."

A majority of Poles would like to bring troops home from both countries.

The League of Polish Families was in the former coalition government whose collapse led to the early election. Opinion polls suggest the party might not get the 5 percent of votes it needs to enter parliament.

Poland had the biggest Jewish population in Europe until World War Two. The murder of millions in the Nazi Holocaust and an anti-Semitic campaign by post-war communist authorities left only a few thousand Jews in the country.

Since the end of communism, Polish governments have tried to counter perceptions of anti-Semitism.