A moment of silence for victims of the Holocaust at the European Union Parliament was broken by a Polish MEP accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.
Grzegorz Braun of the far-right Confederation party twice shouted in English, “Let’s pray for the victims of the Jewish genocide in Gaza,” during the official Holocaust commemoration at the European Parliament, which came two days after International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
After a pause, he added, “Thank you, everybody, for praying for the victims of the Jewish genocide in Gaza.” Israel has strenuously denied all accusations of genocide.
As soon as the moment of silence ended, parliament president Roberta Metsola called on Braun to leave the chamber, a decision that was applauded by participants.
The European Jewish Congress called the outburst “a vile display of antisemitism in the heart of European democracy.”
“Disrupting a solemn moment of silence with hateful rhetoric is not only a grave insult to the memory of the Holocaust victims but also a disturbing reminder that the same antisemitic narratives that fueled history’s darkest times continue to persist today,” the EJC wrote on social media platform X.
