Polish PM: Holocaust bill needed, but timing wasn't good

MARKOWA, Poland – Poland's controversial legislation regulating Holocaust speech could have been timed and presented better, the prime minister acknowledged Friday, but he insisted that the law is needed to defend historical truth.

Mateusz Morawiecki spoke on Friday to foreign correspondents at a museum that memorializes Christian Poles who risked their lives to help Jews during the German occupation of Poland during World War II.

Poland is involved in a bitter diplomatic spat with Israel over the legislation, which would outlaw publicly and falsely attributing the crimes of Nazi Germany to the Polish nation. The penalty for violations is up to three years in prison.

He defended the law, calling it necessary to protect historical truth and prevent the Polish people as a whole from being blamed for the murder of Jews during the Nazi occupation from 1939 to 1945.