From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Far-right MEP disrupts EU Holocaust ceremony to decry ‘Jewish genocide in Gaza’
Zev Stub is the Times of Israel's Diaspora Affairs correspondent.
A moment of silence for victims of the Holocaust at the European Union Parliament has been broken by a Polish MEP accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.
Grzegorz Braun of the far-right Confederation party twice shouted, “Let’s pray for the victims of the Jewish genocide in Gaza,” during the official Holocaust commemoration at the European Parliament.
As soon as the moment of silence ended, parliament president Roberta Metsola called on Braun to leave the chamber, a decision that was applauded by participants.
The European Jewish Congress calls the outburst “a vile display of antisemitism in the heart of European democracy.”
“Disrupting a solemn moment of silence with hateful rhetoric is not only a grave insult to the memory of the Holocaust victims but also a disturbing reminder that the same antisemitic narratives that fueled history’s darkest times continue to persist today,” the EJC writes on X.
Grzegorz Braun supplements minute of silence for jews with "Let's pray for the victims of the Jewish genocide in Gaza"
He is escorted out of EU parliament afterwards pic.twitter.com/PyNlwenL78
— Polish Connection (@PoleConnection) January 29, 2025
Braun later says that he did not “disrupt” the event but rather “supplemented” it.
“I shared the observation that apparently all victims are equal, but some are more equal than others,” he posts on X.
Last December, Braun disrupted a Hanukkah event at the Polish parliament with members of the Jewish community, taking a fire extinguisher and walking across the lobby of parliament to where the menorah candles were, creating a white cloud and forcing security guards to rush people out of the area.
He then took to the podium in the chamber where he described Hanukkah as “satanic” and said he was restoring “normality.”
The Times of Israel Community.