An Israeli high school student was arrested and questioned by police for doing a Nazi salute during a school trip to Auschwitz, [Hebrew] media reported on Sunday.

The teenager from Kiryat Bialik was on his school’s field trip to Poland when he did the gesture under the entrance sign to the camp.

He was questioned for two hours by Polish police and was fined approximately NIS 1,500 after security guards observed him performing the salute. The museum also captured the incident on its security cameras; the footage was handed over to the police.

Polish police charged him with promoting Nazism, local media reported. Performing a seig [sic] heil is illegal in Poland, and carries a potential sentence of up to two years in prison.

[…]

“We were at the entrance to Auschwitz, and a girl from our grade was taking a picture of the gate—because everyone does that when they come,” the student told Channel 13 News. “He saw that she was taking a picture, and he waved at her as if to disrupt the shot, just joking around. I noticed what he did and went up to him, telling him, ‘Put your hand down, it doesn’t look good.’ Then he said to me, ‘What doesn’t look good? I’m just waving hello.’”

“He really wasn’t thinking about anything,” the student continued. “A second later, she took another picture, and he just waved at her again. The security guards didn’t listen to anyone, they wouldn’t let us explain, they just took him away immediately.”

[…]

“We are investigating the unusual incident that took place during the Auschwitz tour and express our regret over the situation,” the statement read. “According to the student’s claim, he was merely waving and did not perform a Nazi salute. The student was released following an inquiry with Polish police. Upon his return to Israel, an educational process will take place.”

Make of that what you will.

Related: ‘Israeli teenager fined for urinating on Auschwitz Holocaust monument’ (dated 2018)