Polish lawmaker slams Israel's demand to strip his parliamentary mandate

A Polish lawmaker who recently displayed an Israeli flag in which the Star of David was replaced with a Nazi swastika in parliament has criticized Israel's demand to strip his parliamentary mandate.

"It won't be Israel deciding who can sit in the Polish parliament and who cannot," Konrad Berkowicz said in a post on US social media company X on Tuesday.

His comments came after the Israeli embassy shared a post from the Foreign Ministry accusing the Polish lawmaker of having a "dubious past that includes public support for Nazism."

The post went on to say that Berkowicz has no place in the Polish parliament, adding: "We expect the Polish authorities to take decisive and swift action."

The embassy also said: "History has shown what racism and antisemitism lead to — Poland knows this all too well."

Responding to the statement, Berkowicz said "I hope that the brazen lie about my alleged public support for Nazism" will be met with an appropriate response from the Polish authorities and the justice system.

The Polish lawmaker urged Israel to deal with the "real Nazis it has in its own government, headed by the prime minister—a criminal and genocidal murderer, Benjamin Netanyahu."

"History has shown what Nazism leads to—Poland knows this all too well. That's why we are not and will not remain indifferent to a repeat of history that is currently unfolding in the Middle East," added Berkowicz.