WARSAW – Polish parliament member Konrad Berkowicz displayed the Nazi swastika on Tuesday at the Sejm (“parliament”). He claimed Israel is responsible for a death rate of Gaza children “greater by the dozens” than the death rate of children in Ukraine during the ongoing Russian invasion.
“Israel is the new Third Reich,” Berkowicz said, and unfurled a blue-and-white flag with the Star of David replaced by the Nazi symbol.
His actions were swiftly condemned by the House Speaker and other parliament members present. Under Polish law, the display of Nazi symbols is a crime, and so is publicly offending another nation’s flag.
Czarzasty said this is a "blatant violation of the dignity" of the house that cannot be justified. He stated he would seek to impose a financial penalty on Berkowicz due to him violating the parliament's rules of conduct.
The Israeli embassy in Poland urged Polish authorities to “address this disgrace.” As Holocaust survivors march in Auschwitz today, this vile anti-Jewish act is especially appalling,” it stated on social media.
A video of Berkowicz speaking to the shocked house was shared on the social media accounts of his party, Confederation, which is on the extreme far Right and has a history of attention-grabbing stunts aimed at the Jewish community. For example, its leader, Grzegusz Braun, used a fire extinguisher to put out a menorah during a Hanukkah event at the Sejm.
US ambassador to Poland Tom Ross used social media to shame Berkowicz, stating that “we Jews aren’t so easy to push around anymore.” Ross is a former publisher of the Jerusalem Post.
Speaking in the Auschwitz museum media center, Sylvan Adams of the World Jewish Congress told reporters that while the extreme Right has different ideas than radical Muslims, “they have no problem agreeing and working together when the issue is Jews.”
“Antisemitism is not a goal but a means,” he warned, “the goal is to erode democracy and Western civilization.”
March of the Living held in Auschwitz
Adams spoke during the annual March of the Living commemorating the Holocaust – during which survivors walk alongside educators and activists.
As news concerning Confederation’s latest antisemitic gimmick hit social media, many Polish users posted comments supporting Berkowicz’s statement, delivered during a discussion concerning Poland’s policy in the Middle East.
These comments often include disturbing images that compare the flag to a dung heap, Jews to filth-eating pigs, and Haredi Jews depicted as monsters about to devour a baby.
On the radical left of Polish politics, Green Party members active in the Sejm’s Polish-Israeli work group suggested Poland cuts its diplomatic ties with the Jewish State.
Krytyka Polityczna, a publication committed to the values of the European Left, published earlier this month the opinion Israel has no right to exist. The author, Wojtek Boliński, compared Israel to the Third Reich.
“I fought to bring back youth delegations to Poland,” Education Minister Yoav Kisch told The Jerusalem Post. He spoke highly of the Auschwitz Museum, noting that he valued “everything they do.”
The marching delegations were greeted by local Polish supporters who waved Israeli and Polish flags in solidarity and shared values.