anti-Semitism
Poland: Right-wing MP extinguishes Hanukkah menorah
Grzegorz Braun is a member of parliament for the right-wing Konfederacja party in Poland. Here after extinguishing the Hanukkah candles with a fire extinguisher in the Polish Parliament building. photo
© Marcin Obara/PAP/dpa
A right-wing member of parliament in Poland used a fire extinguisher to put out a Hanukkah menorah. The whole thing happened in the Parliament building in Warsaw. A criminal complaint was filed.
The television station TVN24 showed footage of MP Grzegorz Braun from the right-wing extremist Konfederacja taking a fire extinguisher from the wall, turning on the extinguishing jet and directing it at the lit lights of the Hanukkah menorah. There was a scuffle with a representative of the Jewish community. On social media, tumultuous scenes of gun smoke can be seen before Braun leaves the foyer. From the speaker’s platform, the MP then declared that lighting a Hanukkah menorah was an “act of Satanism.”
Parliament President Szymon Holownia then excluded Braun from the meeting and announced that the Presidium would file a criminal complaint. As long as he is President of Parliament, there will be no tolerance for anti-Semitism and racism there. Poland’s designated new prime minister, Donald Tusk, called Braun’s action a disgrace.
The festival of Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem after an uprising against the Greeks in 164 BC and the “miracle of light” of a lampstand burning for eight days. It lasts until December 15th this year.
Journalist Patryk Michalski on Platform X with video of the action