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A Polish lawmaker delivered an openly antisemitic speech in parliament on Tuesday, equating Israel with Nazi Germany and displaying a defaced Israeli flag marked with a Nazi swastika.
Konrad Berkowicz, a member of the far-right Konfederacja party, described Israel as the “new Third Reich” and accused it of committing “genocide” in Gaza. He also raised a paper Israeli flag altered to include a swastika in place of the Star of David. These claims and imagery constitute Holocaust inversion, a recognized form of antisemitism that weaponizes the language, symbols, and memory of the Holocaust against the Jewish state.
🇵🇱 Poland, April 14, 2026: Polish lawmaker @KonradBerkowicz of the far-right Confederation party displayed an Israeli flag with a swastika inside the parliament.
This Holocaust inversion and antisemitic provocation took place on Holocaust Remembrance Day.@KancelariaSejmu pic.twitter.com/ssDf62RL7h
— Combat Antisemitism Movement (@CombatASemitism) April 14, 2026
The timing intensified the gravity of the incident. It unfolded on Yom HaShoah, Israel’s national Holocaust Remembrance Day, as survivors and others gathered for the March of the Living at Auschwitz-Birkenau. On this day, invoking Nazi imagery against the Jewish state is not only offensive. It is a desecration of the six million Jews systematically murdered by the Nazi regime.
Berkowicz’s conduct represented a textbook example of Jew-hatred, according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, which identifies Holocaust denial, distortion, and inversion, including comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany, as contemporary forms of antisemitism.
Officials responded quickly. Deputy Speaker Włodzimierz Czarzasty said there was “no justification” for such imagery. Meanwhile, MP Slawomir Cwik called for prosecutors to examine the case under laws banning Nazi symbols and incitement to hatred. The Israeli Embassy in Poland condemned the act as an “antisemitic horror.” In addition, U.S. Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose issued a forceful rebuke after attending the Auschwitz commemoration.
Berkowicz has a record of incendiary rhetoric targeting Israel. This latest episode reflects a broader and more dangerous trend, the normalization of Holocaust distortion and antisemitic incitement within democratic institutions. Ultimately, when the Holocaust is weaponized against the Jewish state, especially on Yom HaShoah, it is not just provocation. It is a direct assault on historical truth.
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CAM has launched Report It — a secure app to report antisemitic incidents anonymously and in real time. Don’t stay silent — download it today on the Apple Store or Google Play. See it. Report it. Stop it. Together, we can fight this hate.
