The government of Poland, moving to avoid getting embroiled in anti-Israel politics, last night abruptly canceled a scheduled speech by a professor at New York University who has become hostile to the Jewish state, just hours before the event was to have taken place at Poland's consulate here in New York.

The decision to cancel the speech, which was billed as being about "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," is a signal of the quickening entente between free Poland and Israel, a relationship that is all the more remarkable for the fact that among the founders of Israel were Jews fleeing anti-Semitism in Poland. A Polish diplomat told The New York Sun that the speech, by the NYU professor Tony Judt, would have been inappropriate for the Polish consulate.

"It is a diplomatic post. Whatever is organized here should be in compliance with Poland's foreign policy," the deputy consul general of Poland in New York, Marek Skulimowski, said. "The consulate is not a Hyde Park, it's not a discussion club, it's a consulate." Mr. Skulimowski said that Mr. Judt had been "very critical" of Israel, while the president of Poland had just made a warm visit to Israel a few weeks ago.

The Polish decision was hailed by one of the leading Jewish defense organizations. "Bravo to them for doing the right thing," said the executive director of the American Jewish Committee, David Harris. "Tony Judt's message is the polar opposite of the remarkable surge in bilateral relations between Poland and Israel and between Poland and world Jewry."...

...The group's president and founder, Patricia Huntington, yesterday blamed one Jewish organization, the Anti-Defamation League, for the cancellation of the speech. "Apparently the Anti-Defamation League tracks Tony Judt's talks on the Internet and tries to get the talks canceled," Ms. Huntington said. "This is censorship, which is of concern to Americans who believe in free speech." She accused the Anti-Defamation League of having "forced," "threatened," and exerted "pressure" on the Polish consulate to cancel the talk...Mr. Judt, who is director of the Remarque Institute at NYU and a professor of European studies and of history, blamed the Anti-Defamation League and Mr. Foxman for the cancellation. "The pressure was brought by the ADL," Mr. Judt said. "They had no choice. Foxman had been leaning on the consulate all afternoon."...

The Network 2020 Web site lists another speaker for next month: M. Javad Zarif, the ambassador of Iran to the United Nations. He is scheduled to speak on "Iran's Role in Regional Security."