A far-right member of parliament emptied a fire extinguisher into a menorah for Hebrew Hanukkah celebration inside the Polish parliament. The new prime minister of Poland Donald Tusk immediately condemned this action. “Something unacceptable happened, which should never happen again, it’s a shame,” Tusk told reporters. The president of the parliament excluded him from the meeting Gregor Brown MP of the “Confederation” party on this occasion “racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic” action.
Footage posted on the website of private broadcaster TVN24 shows Brown picking up a fire extinguisher and heading into the parliament’s vestibule where the menorah was. After activating the fire extinguisher, he extinguished the candles of the lamp, which is a symbol of Judaism, causing a white cloud and forcing the guards to remove those present. The footage shows some people covered in a white powder.
Brown then entered the conference room, took the podium and called the menorah “satanic”., adding that he “restored normalcy.” When asked after the episode if he was ashamed of what he had done, he replied: “Those who engage in acts of satanic worship should be ashamed.” Parliament Speaker Simon Holovnia said he would inform prosecutors. Brown left parliament after shaking hands with other far-right MPs. “There will be no tolerance for racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism (…) as long as I am president of the parliament,” said Holovnia.
Poland’s Chief Rabbi Michael Sudrich told Reuters that Brown’s actions did not represent the country. “Someone blew out the Hanukkah candles and a few minutes later we lit them again. For thousands of years our enemies have been trying to wipe us out, from the time of the Maccabees to Hamas. But our enemies must learn that they cannot erase us,” he stressed.
Cardinal Gregor Rees of the Roman Catholic Church said in a post on Platform X that he was ashamed of Brown’s actions. “I apologize to the entire Jewish community in Poland,” he wrote.
Source: News Beast
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