Polish Politician Snuffs Out Parliament Menorah With Fire Extinguisher
Grzegorz Braun, a notoriously antisemitic lawmaker from Poland’s far-right Confederation party, sprayed a Hanukkah menorah with a fire extinguisher in parliament on Tuesday before taking a podium to denounce it as “satanic.” Braun, 56, has previously claimed that there exists a plot to turn Poland into a “Jewish state.” Cell phone and television footage of the incident showed Braun grabbing an extinguisher, walking across the lobby, and spraying the candles “in a very brutal way,” a witness told the Associated Press. Climbing behind the chamber’s podium, Braun insisted he was “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,” according to Politico. He was swiftly expelled from the chamber by Speaker Szymon Hołownia, who told reporters after, “This should have never happened.”
#NEW Hannukah candles put out by a fire extinguisher in parliament by a Polish far-right politician Grzegorz Michał Braun.
The speaker denounced the incident, said there would be no tolerance for antisemitic and xenophobic behavior in Polish parliament. pic.twitter.com/QAu8FUryU7— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) December 12, 2023