Editor’s Note: Wikipedia provides this background for the following story: On 14 April 2026, during a debate in the Sejm, Berkowicz sparked controversy by displaying an Israeli flag in which the Star of David was replaced with a swastika.[12] During his speech, he referred to Israel as a “new Third Reich,” accused it of committing genocide in Gaza, and war crimes “with particular cruelty” including the use of white phosphorus in Gaza and Lebanon. Berkowicz also said that “the number of children who have died [in Gaza] is dozens of times higher than during the entire war in Ukraine.” Israel as well as the European Jewish Congress strongly condemned Berkowicz’s actions, calling them “antisemitic horror,” “Holocaust inversion” and “antisemitic provocation.” Włodzimierz Czarzasty, Deputy Speaker of the Polish parliament, said that Berkowitz’s actions were “in no way justified.”
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LOS ANGELES (Press Release) — StandWithUs condemns the disturbing actions of Polish Member of Parliament (MP) Konrad Berkowicz, who invoked Nazi imagery and compared Israel to the “Third Reich” in the Polish parliament on April 14, 2026.
Comparing Israel to Nazi Germany is not a legitimate criticism of Israeli policy. It is a textbook example of Holocaust inversion; a form of antisemitism that weaponizes the memory of the Holocaust against the Jewish people.
Moreover, displaying a swastika in any context is deeply offensive. Doing so in Poland, on the very day that thousands march at Auschwitz to honor the victims of Nazi genocide, is especially egregious. It trivializes the murder of six million Jews and distorts one of history’s clearest moral atrocities.
There is a clear line between criticism of Israel and antisemitism. Comparing the Jewish state to Nazi Germany crosses that line.
StandWithUs commends Members of Parliament and others in Poland who immediately condemned this act and affirmed that elected officials must be held to the highest standards of responsibility, especially when addressing the history of the Holocaust.
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Preceding provided by StandWithUs