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Far-right lawmaker Grzegorz Braun shocks Polish parliament by using fire extinguisher on menorah
(JTA) — In a shocking display, far-right Polish lawmaker Grzegorz Braun, a well-known antisemitic provocateur, used a fire extinguisher to blow out the candles of a menorah in Poland’s parliament building on Tuesday before calling Hanukkah “Satanic.”
Videos from the scene showed white mist from the extinguisher filling much of a chamber in the building where a large menorah had been lit.
Parliament speaker Szymon Holownia expelled Braun from Tuesday’s parliament session in Warsaw and later said Braun would lose part of his salary for three months. Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Sholom Ber Stambler, who was in the parliament building for a Hanukkah celebration, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that a woman who struggled with Braun as he sprayed the extinguisher’s fumes throughout a chamber in the building was taken to a hospital due to respiratory issues.
Stambler had lit the menorah before parliamentary proceedings, which involved the voting in of new Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his cabinet. Braun, strongly opposed to the pro-European Union Tusk — who defeated the right-wing Law and Justice party in recent elections — left the vote and began using the fire extinguisher.
“It was a shock,” said Stambler, head of Chabad of Poland, the Hasidic movement’s local branch. “For the first few minutes, you just don’t understand what’s going on physically.”
Szymon Holownia, the Polish parliament speaker, on left with Rabbi Sholom Ber Stambler in the Polish parliament building, Dec. 12, 2023. (Chabad of Poland)
Stambler said a range of parliament members across the political spectrum reached out to send him well wishes in the hours after the incident. Braun’s own party condemned his behavior on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. A representative of Poland’s Catholic church also issued a statement apologizing to “the entire Jewish community in Poland.”
Tusk previously served as prime minister of Poland from 2007-2014 before serving as president of the European Council, an EU body, from 2014-2019. The Law and Justice party, which staunchly opposes immigration and has had mixed relations with local Jews, had been in power since 2015. In 2021, the party passed a law limiting Holocaust restitution that critics said was meant to whitewash Poland’s World War II history. The legislation also kicked off a years-long diplomatic spat with Israel.
Stambler was appointed a Chabad emissary in Poland in 2005. He said that while he has watched antisemitic incidents increase across Europe since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, Jews in Poland have been relatively insulated from the phenomenon.
He attributed that to Poland’s relatively small population of Muslims. Muslim-led groups across Europe have organized large pro-Palestinian actions, some of which have seen antisemitic acts or rhetoric.
“I get to read some news and I don’t understand how can it be in our world? And I said to myself, you know, I live in Poland, but I don’t see such things,” he said. “Somebody called me from Antwerp and he said, ‘Ah, you live in Poland, you’re okay.’ Because now the most safe place in the world for Jews is Warsaw and Budapest, because there are no Muslims here.”
Braun, who is also critical of Polish Protestants, was first elected to Poland’s parliament in 2019 as a member of the far-right KKP party, which advocates for monarchism.
“He managed to get people evacuated, but I received so many messages of solidarity,” Stambler said. “I think that in a way he also made a wave of tolerance, of freedom of religion, of mutual respect. And I deeply hope that this will be the message from this entire event.”
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The post Far-right lawmaker Grzegorz Braun shocks Polish parliament by using fire extinguisher on menorah appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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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.