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Polish MP uses fire extinguisher on Jewish menorah to end ‘Talmud worship’
UPDATE 12/13/23: Grzegorz Braun has been suspended from parliament for the events described below.
Warsaw, Poland – A menorah lighting ceremony held in the Polish parliament building was abruptly halted after a nationalist MP bravely used a fire extinguisher to douse Hannukah candles. The right-wing lawmaker later went on to defend his actions, stating that Parliament was no place for “satanic” or “talmudic” worship.
The incident unfolded Tuesday when Grzegorz Braun, labeled by mainstream media as a “far-right” MP from Poland’s Confederation party, used a fire extinguisher to douse a room hosting a menorah lighting ceremony in White smoke. Braun’s actions went viral after a video of the event was circulated internationally on multiple social media platforms.
In the video, bystanders can be seen confronting Braun, with one woman attempting to physically intervene, only to be blasted by the extinguisher herself. Following the incident, Braun briefly declared that he was “restoring normalcy” to the Polish Parliament and referred to Hanukkah as a “satanic” holiday.
“There can be no place for acts of racist, tribal, wild, Talmudic worship on the premises of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland!” Braun said on X, formerly Twitter. When asked if he felt ashamed of his actions, Braun responded, “Those who take part in acts of satanic worship should be ashamed.”
“I am restoring normality and balance and putting an end to acts of satanic, Talmudic, and racist triumphalism,” he later clarified.
It didn’t take long for other Polish politicians to denounce Braun. Szymon Holownia, Parliament speaker and host of the menorah lighting stunt, condemned his behavior as “absolutely scandalous.” As punishment, Braun was excluded from Tuesday’s parliament session and slammed with strict financial penalties, including a three-month pay cut. Holownia later expressed hope that he would not return for some time.
“Yarmulkes, tallit, fringes, sidelocks, and other excesses in the Sejm of the Republic of Poland! No to Hanukkah celebrations in the Polish parliament!” Braun said. “I didn’t notice the Advent wreath in the building. We are ruled by servants of all nations, except for the servants of the Polish Nation.”
Meanwhile, Braun was regaled as a hero in nationalist circles online, with those in favor of his actions against the “satanic” ceremony likening it to a “Jesus flipping the tables in the temple moment.” According to Poland’s most popular online fundraising website, Zrzutka.pl, Braun had raised tens of thousands of USD in support within hours after the incident. On Wednesday, however, the website suddenly blocked fundraising and released a statement urging users to instead support the Chabad-aligned POLIN Museum, which bills itself as “a journey through 1000 years of the history of Polish Jews.”
Braun—elected as an MP in 2019—has often served as a beacon of resistance in Poland, a nation beset by immigration and other Western-imposed political woes. In the past, the infamous MP had promoted antisemitic sentiments, clamored for the criminalization of homosexuality, and turned heads when he correctly linked the United States, Israel, and international Jewry to be the forces behind many of the West’s persisting issues. Adding fuel to the fire, Braun once asserted during an interview that “Jew-Masons” were using “sodomites” as part of a “world revolution,” and blamed the United States for being behind the current Russia-Ukraine war.
“The American empire here is the political and military tool of Jewish blackmail against Poland,” Braun has been quoted as saying. “We do not want the Polish people to be collateral for the acts of genocide taking place right now in Palestine.”
While daring, Braun’s public rejection of the menorah lighting ceremony is but one of a series of nationalistic actions committed by the Confederation MP. In 2012, Braun called for the execution of “full-time traitors” working inside Poland’s media apparatus. He also faced accusations of so-called “anti-Semitism” earlier this year after he disrupted a lecture on the Holocaust. According to reports, Braun stormed the podium, seized the microphone from Polish-Canadian historian Jan Grabowski, and destroyed the sound system. Braun later claimed his status as a lawmaker granted him legal immunity. He was never charged for the incident.
While it is currently unknown if additional penalties will be levied against Braun, Jewish menorah lighting ceremonies have continued in government buildings throughout the West without interruption. On Tuesday, the US Congress—including the highest-ranking Jewish official in the United States government, Chuck Schumer—conducted a first-of-its-kind menorah lighting ceremony at the Capitol building. The event was flanked by other menorah lighting events in places like the White House, New York City, and even from the front lines of the embattled Gaza Strip.
At the annual White House Hannukah party, high-profile Jew Ezra Friedlander could be seen speaking with controversial guests such as alleged sex-pest and scandal-ridden Hunter Biden. Many of these nationwide ceremonies were headed by rabbis who used the opportunity to reify support for Israel and to denounce Hamas, the duly elected leaders of the Gaza Strip.
Echoing their sentiments was President Joe Biden, who proudly stated, “It’s about time we have a permanent menorah here at the White House.” America’s devotion to Jewish religious customs reached a new level when, in 2022, wooden pieces of the White House’s original foundation were used to craft a temporary menorah for the annual Hanukkah party.
“You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist, and I’m a Zionist,” he continued.
A rising tide of anti-Jewish sentiment across the West has given way to countless peaceful protests and other incidents that have been labeled “antisemitic” by Jewish power figures. Many of them have been attributed to Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, a conflict which, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, has killed over 18,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children.
Just this week, a professor at an Ivy League college overtly called for the elimination of freedom of speech in America to protect Jews from “antisemitic” ideas on college campuses. The demand came amid numerous polls and studies that suggested Millennials and Gen Z have grown skeptical of Jewish-imposed political narratives like the Holocaust and the current war in Gaza.
In November, two Jewish members of the anti-White extremist movement, commonly referred to as “Antifa,” violently clashed with pro-Palkestine demonstrators peacefully protesting a screening of “Bearing Witness,” a movie widely understood to be Israeli war propaganda. In the aftermath, the identities of the Zionist assailants were unmasked, and the victims of the attack were labeled antisemitic by those involved.
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