Polish MEP removed from chamber after ‘Jewish genocide’ comment

During Holocaust commemorations at the EU Parliament, Grzegorz Braun called for a prayer for people killed in Gaza

Polish MEP Grzegorz Braun called on his fellow legislators to “pray for the victims of the Jewish genocide in Gaza” during a moment of silence in remembrance of Holocaust victims on Wednesday. He was swiftly asked to leave the chamber by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

Following Hamas’s incursion into Israeli territory in October 2023, when the militants killed over 1,100 people and took 240 hostages, West Jerusalem launched a massive military campaign in Gaza. By the time the two belligerents sealed a ceasefire earlier this month, the IDF operation had claimed at least 46,000 lives in the Palestinian enclave, according to local Hamas-controlled health authorities.

After being ejected from the European Parliament’s commemorative ceremony marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the MEP from Poland’s right-wing Confederation alliance insisted in a post on X that he hadn’t wanted to “disturb” the event, but rather “supplemented” it.

The stunt has provoked harsh criticism from multiple other lawmakers, including those from Poland.

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In a post on X, the European Jewish Congress also denounced Braun’s action as a “vile display of antisemitism in the heart of European democracy.”

The politician made headlines in December 2023 when he used a fire extinguisher to put out Hanukkah candles during a ceremony at the Polish parliament. Braun said at the time that “there can be no place for the acts of this racist, tribal, wild Talmudic cult on these premises.”

Back in December 2023, Irish MEP Clare Daly from the left-wing Independents 4 Change party accused European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen of cheerleading for a “brutal apartheid regime that she calls a ‘vibrant democracy’.”

Earlier, Spanish Social Rights Minister Ione Belarra called out Brussels over its inaction in the face of what she called “genocide” in Gaza.

While several EU member states made symbolic gestures in support of the Palestinians, including by officially recognizing their state, Von der Leyen has staunchly supported Israel.

Commenting on the EU’s stance in November 2023, the Turkish Foreign Ministry reminded the bloc that “policies based on universal values, international law, and humanitarian principles cannot be limited to Ukraine… but must be pursued universally, including in the Middle East.”