Far-right politician extinguishes Hanukkah candles in Polish Parliament
A far-right lawmaker in the Polish parliament created a scandal on Tuesday by extinguishing candles on a menorah that were lit for the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, disrupting the start of the new pro-EU government’s work. Grzegorz Braun, a pro-Russian member of the Confederation party, extinguished the candles as Rabbi Shalom Ber Stambler was leading the Hanukkah ceremony, causing chaos and smoke to fill the area. Braun was swiftly denounced by all major political forces, and was excluded from the day’s parliamentary session and faced a financial penalty of losing half of three months of his salary and per diems for half a year. The incident disrupted an important day in Poland’s parliament when the newly elected Prime Minister Donald Tusk gave his inaugural speech. Tusk condemned the antisemitic incident and pledged that his government would demand that the Western world keep up its help for Ukraine, and that it would be a stable ally to the United States and NATO. The incident also delayed a vote of confidence in his government, and even the parliamentary group of Braun’s party condemned his behaviour. Rabbi Stambler, who leads the Chabad community, stated that it felt like Braun wanted to disrupt a day when many people were happy after Tusk was elected and gave his inaugural speech to parliament. The incident received widespread condemnation, including from U.S. Ambassador Mark Brzezinski and Poland’s Catholic church. Braun had previously falsely claimed that there is a plot to turn Poland into a “Jewish state” and has called for homosexuality to be criminalized. Prompt action was taken by the speaker of the parliament, Szymon Holownia, who called the act “absolutely scandalous” and excluded Braun from the parliamentary session, expressing hopes that “he will not return soon.” He said he was reporting him to prosecutors. Cardinal Grzegorz Rys, who leads a committee for dialogue with Judaism, apologized to the whole Jewish community in Poland in response to the incident.
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