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Fury as Antisemitic Polish MP Extinguishes Candles on Hanukkah Menorah in Parliament Building
Antisemitic Polish MP Grzegorz Braun is seen moments after extinguishing a Hanukkah menorah in the Polish parliament. Photo: Screenshot
A viscerally antisemitic member of the Polish parliament was expelled from the chamber on Tuesday after he extinguished the candles of a lit Hanukkah menorah with a fire extinguisher.
The incident occurred in a hallway of the Sejm, Poland’s legislative assembly, where a menorah was on display celebrating the annual Hanukkah holiday. The MP, Grzegorz Braun of the far right Confederation Party, grabbed a fire extinguisher to spray the menorah, filling the area with smoke. Dozens of people who attended the candle lighting ceremony, including several children, were immediately evacuated by security officers.
Braun was promptly turfed out of the parliament by speaker Szymon Holownia, who promised a formal investigation into the incident. “There will be no tolerance for racism, xenophobia, antisemitism and any other deviations as long as I am the Speaker of the Sejm,” he later said.
Braun also launched into an antisemitic rant after attacking the menorah, telling those who berated him 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!”
Warsaw, Poland – Right wing MP Grzegorz Braun, who has a history of eccentric behavior against the Jewish community, takes a fire extinguisher to a Hanukkah menorah inside Poland’s parliament.
Imagining trying to celebrate your holiday and this happens.
pic.twitter.com/4TO4s3xHja
— Combat Antisemitism Movement (@CombatASemitism) December 12, 2023
One reporter who witnessed the incident was adamant that Braun had planned his act in advance. “I had the impression that from the beginning he knew when he was grabbing the fire extinguisher what he wanted to do. He had it planned in some way,” said Sebastian Napieraj, a reporter with broadcaster TVN24. “There was a film crew with him who filmed it all.”
An unnamed woman who was also in attendance said she had been physically assaulted by Braun. “I got in his way and he sprayed me with in the face with the fire extinguisher,” she told news outlet Wiadosmosci.
Braun’s outrage was widely condemned. Israel’s Ambassador in Warsaw, Yaacov Livne, denounced it as “shameful” while US envoy Mark Brzezinski condemned what he called a “vile antisemitic act.”
Braun’s action occurred as Poland’s newly-elected president Donald Tusk laid out the legislative program for his centrist administration. Commenting on Braun, Tusk said the act of extinguishing the menorah was a “disgrace” and “unacceptable.”
“This cannot be allowed to happen again,’ Tusk said.
Rafal Pankowski — executive director of the leading Polish anti-racist association “Never Again” — told The Algemeiner that Braun possessed a long record of antisemitic incitement. In June, Braun wrecked a lecture addressed by the leading Holocaust historian Prof. Jan Grabowski at the German Historical Institute in Warsaw, grabbing the microphone and smashing it before turning to the shocked audience to announce that the meeting was over. Separately, in January Braun told a gathering of far right MPs that Polish leaders “were ‘no longer just ritually bowing to Jews in New York’ but were also following a political correctness model according to which ‘no one dare to speak in an unsentimental-idealistic way’ about Jews and others for fear of punishment,” the Never Again Association reported at the time.
“Grzegorz Braun is the most notorious antisemite in Polish politics today and one of the most active antisemites in Europe,” Pankowski said. “As an MP for the far-right Confederation party he is also known for extreme anti-Ukrainian and anti-LGBT statements. His words and actions legitimize and incite violence against minorities.He must be held accountable and he must not be given a platform to continue promoting hatred.”
The post Fury as Antisemitic Polish MP Extinguishes Candles on Hanukkah Menorah in Parliament Building first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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United Nations ‘Condemns’ Israel for Responding to Houthi Attacks, Decries ‘Escalation’ of Violence
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks to members of the Security Council during a meeting to address the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, at UN headquarters in New York City, New York, US, April 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
In its latest salvo against the Jewish state, the United Nations (UN) condemned Israel for executing retaliatory strikes against the Houthi terror group in Yemen.
“The Secretary-General condemns escalation between Yemen and Israel,” Stéphanie Tremblay, a UN spokesperson, said in Thursday statements on behalf of UN Secretary General António Guterres.
“The Secretary-General is gravely concerned about intensified escalation in Yemen and Israel. Israeli airstrikes today on Sana’a International Airport, the Red Sea ports and power stations in Yemen are especially alarming. The airstrikes reportedly resulted in numerous casualties including at least three killed and dozens more injured” Tremblay added.
On Thursday, Israel launched a barrage of missile attacks on Houthi bases in Yemen, provoking international outrage. Israel targeted a major airport in Sanaa and ports in Hodeida, Al-Salif and Ras Qantib, and power stations, locations the Jewish state claims were used by the terror group to sneak in both Iranian weapons and high-ranking Iranian officials.
On Friday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for an airstrike aimed at Ben Gurion airport, claiming that the attacks were carried out in retaliation against Israel’s targeting of Sana’a International airport.
The Israeli strikes followed days of Houthi missile and drone launches towards the Jewish state’s airspace. The Houthis have repeatedly attacked the Jewish state in the year following the Oct. 7 slaughters in Israel. Officials associated with terrorist organization claims that it will continue to attack Israel until the so-called “genocide” in Gaza ceases.
In reference to the strikes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “the Houthis, too, will learn what Hamas and Hezbollah and Assad’s regime and others learned.”
Israeli officials have long accused the UN of having a bias against the Jewish state. Last year, the UN General Assembly condemned Israel twice as often as it did all other countries. Meanwhile, of all the country-specific resolutions passed by the UNHRC, nearly half have condemned Israel, a seemingly disproportionate focus on the lone democracy in the Middle East.
Weeks following the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel, the UN adopted a resolution calling for a “ceasefire” between Israel and the terrorist group. The UN failed to pass a measure condemning the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7.
In June, the UN put Israel on its so-called “list of shame” of countries that kill children in armed conflict. Israel is considered to be the only democracy on the list.
The post United Nations ‘Condemns’ Israel for Responding to Houthi Attacks, Decries ‘Escalation’ of Violence first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Jets Attack Syria-Lebanon Border Crossings to Stop Arms Amuggling
Smoke billows after an Israeli Air Force air strike in southern Lebanon village, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from northern Israel, Oct. 3, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Jim Urquhar
Israeli jets struck seven crossing points along the Syria-Lebanon border on Friday, aiming to cut the flow of weapons to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group in southern Lebanon.
Israeli troops also seized a truck mounted with a 40-barrel rocket launcher in southern Lebanon, part of a haul from various areas that included explosives, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and AK-47 automatic rifles, the military said.
The commander of the Israeli Air Force, Major General Tomer Bar, said Hezbollah was trying to smuggle weapons into Lebanon to test Israel’s ability to stop them.
“This must not be tolerated,” he said in a statement.
Under the terms of a Nov. 27 ceasefire agreement, Israel is supposed to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon in phases while unauthorised Hezbollah military facilities south of the Litani River are to be dismantled.
However, each side has accused the other of violating the agreement, intended to end more than a year of fighting that began with Hezbollah missile strikes on Israel in the aftermath of the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, from Gaza.
On Thursday, the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon called for Israeli forces to withdraw, citing what it said were repeated violations of the deal.
Israel, which destroyed large parts of Hezbollah’s missile stocks during weeks of operations in southern Lebanon, has said it will not permit weapons to be smuggled to Hezbollah through Syria.
Israel has also conducted attacks against the Iranian-backed Houthi movement in Yemen in recent days and pledged to continue its campaign against Iranian-backed militant groups across the region.
The post Israeli Jets Attack Syria-Lebanon Border Crossings to Stop Arms Amuggling first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Mila Kunis Says Husband Ashton Kutcher And Their Children Helped Her Embrace Judaism: ‘I Fell in Love With My Religion’
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis at the 9th Annual Breakthrough Prize Ceremony at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, California, on April 16, 2023. Photo: Cover Media via Reuters Connect
Actress Mila Kunis began embracing and feeling proud of her Jewish heritage when she met her husband, actor Ashton Kutcher, and even more so after having children, she told Israeli activist and author Noa Tishby this week.
“For me, it happened when I met my husband,” the “Goodrich” star, 41, said of her former “That ’70s Show” costar, 46, who she has been married to since 2015.
Although Kutcher is not Jewish, he was a follower of Kabbalah and was frequently photographed visiting the Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles when he was married to actress Demi Moore from 2005-2013. Their wedding was also reportedly officiated by a Kabbalah Centre teacher. It remains unclear if he continues to follow Kabbalah. Nevertheless, Kunis joked that Kutcher is Jewish “by choice,” not by lineage, and that his interest in Judaism sparked Kunis to reconnect with her Jewish roots.
“I fell in love with my religion because he explained it to me,” said Kunis, who voices Meg Griffin on the Fox animated series “Family Guy.”
Kunis made the comments while joining Tishby to light candles on Thursday for the second night of Hanukkah. The two joined forces as part of Tishby’s “#BringOnTheLight campaign,” which is an eight-part video series on YouTube dedicated to spreading the message of Jewish resilience, pride and unity throughout the Jewish holiday.
Kunis and Kutcher together have two children — daughter Wyatt, 10, and son Dimitri, 8. The actress was born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, and moved to the United States at the age of eight. She told Tishby that she did not adhere to any Jewish traditions while growing up. “I always knew I was Jewish but I was told to never talk about,” she said. “I think because I was in a country that didn’t allow for religion.” The “Bad Moms” star added that her children also helped her tap into the religious side of Judaism.
“I was raised culturally Jewish. So for me, it’s a culture,” she said. “And as I had kids, and my kids very much identity with the religion aspect of it, I was like, ‘Oh, I guess we’re doing Shabbat and the candles. And there are so many beautiful traditions.”
“I never lit Hanukkah candles until I had kids,” she further noted.
When Kunis lit the menorah with Tishby for the second night of Hanukkah, they called Kutcher for some help. Both women were unsure if they needed to light the candles from left to right or from right to left, and asked Kutcher for guidance.
Kunis also talked about being raised with a lot of Jewish guilt and superstition. Listing another things that are culturally Jewish about her, she shared, “I have a fear of not having enough food and my fear of somebody being hungry. The worst thing my kids can say to me is, ‘I’m hungry.’”
“Food fixes everything. You’re tired, eat some food. You’re cranky, eat some food,” she joked. “A health person would say, ‘This is unhealthy and you’re doing something wrong.’ And I understand. I’m working on it. But it’s just something that is embedded in me.”
The post Mila Kunis Says Husband Ashton Kutcher And Their Children Helped Her Embrace Judaism: ‘I Fell in Love With My Religion’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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