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Doctor Injured While Trying to Prevent Antisemitic Polish MP From Extinguishing Hanukkah Menorah Speaks Out
A t-shirt being sold online celebrating antisemitic Polish MP Grzegorz Braun’s assault on a Hanukkah menorah with a fire extinguisher. Photo: Screenshot
A woman assaulted by the antisemitic Polish MP who wrecked a menorah lighting display at the Polish parliament this week has spoken out about her ordeal.
Magdalena Gudzińska-Adamczyk, a doctor, told the Rzeczpospolita news outlet on Friday that she had suffered from health problems after being hit in the face with the same fire extinguisher used by the MP — Grzegorz Braun of the far right Confederation Party — to extinguish the candles of a menorah lit in a corridor of the parliament building in celebration of the annual Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Dozens of people who attended the candle lighting ceremony, including several children, were immediately evacuated by security officers.
Gudzińska-Adamczyk was struck as she tried to prevent Braun from setting off the fire extinguisher. After she left the parliament building, she fell unconscious and was rushed to the hospital.
“I feel better today, but I still can’t speak,” she told the newspaper in a text message. “I communicate via SMS.”
Gudzińska-Adamczyk said she was considering taking legal action against Braun, but that she would focus on her health first, as she suffers from a long-term illness.
She added that Braun had told her that “people like me are shameful and that I am not a woman.”
Asked about an online fundraiser for Braun that raised nearly $20,000 in less than 24 hours, Gudzińska-Adamczyk gave a gloomy response.
“It’s very bad how people accept and support violence. Because it was violence, not only against me, not only against Polish Jews, but against the entire Sejm [Polish parliament] community and towards Poland,” she said.
Braun’s antics were widely condemned by Polish politicians, but he appears to be achieving folk hero status among sections of Polish society. Researchers from the Polish anti-racist organization “Never Again” identified several items of merchandise being sold online in support of Braun throughout the week.
One t-shirt shows a graphic representation of a fire extinguisher aimed at a menorah. Other items include coffee mugs showing Braun dressed in a firefighter’s uniform.
Braun was suspended from parliament immediately after the incident. On Wednesday, the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw announced that it was initiating legal proceedings against the MP.
For his part, Braun has shown no remorse, telling those who berated him on Tuesday that they were the ones who should feel “ashamed to participate in the acts of a Satanic Talmudic cult.” He then doubled down with a post on X/Twitter that declared, “There can be no place for acts of racist, wild, Talmudic worship on the premises of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland!”
The post Doctor Injured While Trying to Prevent Antisemitic Polish MP From Extinguishing Hanukkah Menorah Speaks Out first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.