Auschwitz anger at Israeli fly-past

Israeli soldiers also held a ceremony at the memorial

Israeli fighter jets have staged a fly-past at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, despite objections that the display was inappropriate.

Three F-15 aircraft - piloted by descendants of Holocaust survivors - circled over the railway tracks which transported more than a million Jews to their deaths during the Holocaust.

But in a statement earlier, the museum that runs the site deplored "the demonstration of Israeli military might in this place".

"It's a cemetery, a place of silence and concentration," said museum spokesman Jaroslaw Mensfelt.

Mr Mensfelt said the museum was not consulted about the fly-past.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Jonathan Peled said the event was being staged with the full co-operation of the Polish authorities.

'Tribute'

The Israeli pilots who staged the fly-past are in Poland as part of celebrations to mark the Polish air force's 85th anniversary.

Officers do not fight here, they cry here Shevach Weiss, Israeli ambassador to Poland

The planes, emblazoned with Stars of David visible from the ground, flew above the camp along the railway tracks which led to the crematoria before peeling away.

Israel's ambassador to Poland, Shevach Weiss, and about 200 Israeli soldiers, also took part at a ceremony at the camp.

"It's a protest against the inhumanity of the Nazis on the Polish territory," Mr Weiss said. "It's a tribute to the ashes of those who were killed here."

The ambassador said he regretted the museum's opposition to the fly-past.

"Officers do not fight here, they cry here," he added.

Up to one-and-a-half million people were killed by the Nazis in the Auschwitz-Birkenau camps between 1940 and 1945.