Grzegorz Braun, an antisemitic lawmaker from the right-wing Confederation party, on Tuesday doused the candles in a Hanukkah menorah in the Polish parliament with a fire extinguisher — denouncing the Jewish ritual as “Satanic.”
“Racist motives have been attributed to me here, meanwhile, I am just restoring a state of normalcy and balance here, putting an end to acts of Satanic, Talmudist triumphalism, because that is the message of these holidays,” Braun, peppered with white powder from the extinguisher, said in the parliament building.
He was kicked out of the parliamentary session by Speaker Szymon Hołownia after appearing at the podium of the parliament and inviting MPs to a “historical-theological debate.”
Speaking to journalists, Hołownia called the episode “absolutely scandalous” and said the Polish parliament’s security service would “carefully review” footage from the incident to decide on a punishment. He added that the incident would also be investigated by the prosecutor’s office.
Braun’s action disrupted a debate on a vote of confidence in the incoming government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Tusk also reacted to the incident, saying: “This cannot happen again, it is a disgrace.”
Mark Brzezinski, the U.S. ambassador to Poland, said he was “outraged” by the incident which he called a “disgusting act of hatred” that “must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.”
“I am ashamed and apologize to the entire Jewish community in Poland,” said Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś, head of the Roman Catholic Committee for Dialog with Judaism.
Even Braun’s Confederation party colleagues disavowed him.
“I condemn the actions of Grzegorz Braun,” said Sławomir Mentzen, one of the party’s leaders. “In the near future I’ll take further steps in this matter.”
It’s not Braun’s first brush with antisemitism.
In June, he stormed into a lecture being given by a historian on the Holocaust in Poland, destroying the microphone and speakers.
He has also called Jews “the enemies of Poland,” accusing them of wanting to undertake a “hostile takeover” of Polish territory and to put ethnic Poles into reservations.
