Israel has called on Polish authorities to expel a sitting member of parliament from the Sejm after he held up an Israeli flag bearing a swastika in place of the Star of David during a speech in which he accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
Confederation MP Konrad Berkowicz made the gesture at the close of a formal parliamentary motion in which he delivered a sweeping condemnation of Israel’s military campaign, citing the use of banned weapons including phosphorus bombs and the deaths of civilian women and children. He claimed that significantly more children had died in Gaza than throughout the entire course of the war in Ukraine, and declared openly: “Israel is committing genocide before our eyes with particular cruelty.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry responded on X, calling for swift action from Warsaw. “Polish MP Konrad Berkowicz’s dubious record includes public support of Nazism. History has shown where racism and antisemitism lead, as Poland knows all too well. Such a person has no place in the parliament of democratic Poland. We expect the Polish authorities to act decisively and swiftly.” The message was reposted by the Israeli embassy in Poland in Polish.
Berkowicz responded defiantly, rejecting the characterisation and pushing back against what he described as foreign interference in Polish democratic affairs. “It won’t be Israel deciding who can sit in the Polish parliament and who cannot,” he wrote on X. He called the accusation of supporting Nazism a “brazen lie” and said he hoped Polish authorities and the justice system would respond accordingly. He also called on Israel to “deal with the real Nazis it has in its own government.”
The Polish government distanced itself from the Israeli demand while confirming that Berkowicz had faced domestic consequences. Government spokesman Maciej Wewiór, whose statement was reposted by Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, said the MP had already been fined 500 złoty and that the Sejm had imposed its highest available penalty on him. He will reportedly receive only half his salary for the next three months for what was described as a “blatant violation of the dignity of the Sejm.” The prosecutor’s office is also said to be examining his statements. Wewiór was clear on one point: “It is Poles who elect their MPs, not foreign embassies.”
Under Polish law, the public display of the swastika as a symbol of Nazi ideology is a criminal offence. The legal issue in question appears to centre on Berkowicz’s use of the symbol rather than on his political criticisms of Israel, though the two have become inseparable in the public debate surrounding the incident.
The episode has added a fresh flashpoint to an already strained relationship between Warsaw and Jerusalem. The two governments had recently clashed over a separate incident in which an IDF soldier was filmed using a sledgehammer on a statue of Jesus in southern Lebanon, prompting a sharp exchange between Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski and his Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa’ar.
Israel and Jewish organisations across Europe have consistently argued that comparisons between the Holocaust and Israeli military operations constitute antisemitism. Critics of Israeli policy, however, argue that such parallels are a legitimate form of political expression, particularly given the documented scale of civilian casualties in Gaza. Israel’s use of white phosphorus has been recorded by the United Nations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
