A diplomatic storm and shock in Warsaw: Polish MP Konrad Berkowicz, a member of the far-right Confederation party, desecrated the flag of the State of Israel at the parliamentary podium on Tuesday evening-ironically on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Berkowicz displayed a flag in which the Star of David had been replaced with a Nazi swastika, while hurling harsh accusations against Israel, which he called “the new Third Reich."
The shocking act took place as Israel marked the memorial day and, in Poland itself, Holocaust survivors were marching on the grounds of Auschwitz.
In his speech, Berkowicz claimed that Israel is committing “genocide" in Gaza and acting with “particular cruelty." Leaders of his party went further by circulating clips of the speech and the comparisons to the Nazi regime on social media, in an attempt to promote this narrative among the public.
The Israeli Embassy in Warsaw described the incident as an “antisemitic atrocity" and called on authorities to act decisively to remove the moral stain attached to the parliament. “This act is especially horrifying in a country that lost six million of its citizens under Nazi occupation," the embassy said.
The U.S. Ambassador to Poland, Thomas Rose, sharply criticized the MP, writing: “Shame on you! Perhaps you’ve noticed that we Jews are no longer so easy to push around. We defend ourselves with all our strength without apology."
The Speaker of Parliament and members of the governing coalition condemned the act and called on the prosecutor’s office to open legal proceedings against Berkowicz.