WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Palestinian Authority UN envoy’s likening of Israeli soldiers confronting stone throwers to Nazis putting down the Warsaw uprising was “deeply concerning,” the State Department spokesman said.

Mark Toner responded May 5 to a JTA query about an April 27 news conference by Riyadh Mansour.

“Obviously we would condemn any anti-Semitic remarks very forcefully,” Toner said, noting that he had not yet examined Mansour’s comments and was basing his assessment on remarks read to him by a JTA reporter. “It’s deeply concerning.”

Mansour, who called the news conference to discuss UN actions on Israel and the Palestinians, attacked Israeli diplomats for their terming stone throwers “terrorists.”

“All colonizers, all occupiers, including those who suppressed the Warsaw uprising, labeled those who were resisting them as terrorists,” he said.