Polish MP Konrad Berkowicz Sparks Diplomatic Crisis by Displaying Desecrated Israeli Flag

A Polish member of parliament from the far-right Konfederacja party displayed a modified Israeli flag bearing a swastika in place of the Star of David during a Sejm session on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, triggering a diplomatic incident involving the Israeli Embassy, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the United States Ambassador to Poland. Konrad Berkowicz, a member of parliament and first vice-president of the Nowa Nadzieja party, made the gesture from the parliamentary rostrum while accusing Israel of committing genocide in the Middle East using banned phosphorus bombs. He declared that "Israel is the new Third Reich" and stated that the altered flag was exactly what the Israeli flag should look like. The incident fell on Yom HaShoah, Israel's official Holocaust Remembrance Day, adding particular weight to the international condemnations that followed within hours.

Speaker Czarzasty moves to punish Berkowicz financially Sejm Speaker Włodzimierz Czarzasty condemned the act immediately and ordered the preparation of a motion to the Presidium of the Sejm to punish Berkowicz. The potential financial penalty under Sejm rules amounts to half the MP's salary or the full parliamentary allowance for three months. The Speaker's official statement declared that "in the Polish parliament, there is and will be no place for symbols and messages referring to the ideology responsible for some of the greatest crimes in the history of mankind, nor for anti-Semitism." The legal services of the Sejm Chancellery also began analyzing whether to notify law enforcement authorities of a suspected crime, specifically the public insult to the flag of a foreign state and the promotion of Nazism. The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued its own condemnation on the X platform, stating that Berkowicz's criticism of Israel's regional policy "does not justify such a gesture, which is highly offensive not only to Jews and Israelis, but to everyone for whom the Holocaust and other Nazi crimes are an important element of memory and identity." The ministry added that "Poles have a special obligation to care for the historical memory related to the Holocaust" and described the act as "reprehensible and unacceptable."

The incident follows a pattern of provocative gestures by Konfederacja-linked politicians in the Polish Sejm. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has generated growing political polarization in Poland, with sources reporting a visible intensification of anti-Israeli sentiment particularly on the right side of the political scene in recent months. Tuesday's March of the Living in Oświęcim, attended by guests from around the world, was taking place on the same day, with Polish security services described as operating at their highest level of readiness around Holocaust memorial sites in Warsaw and elsewhere.

US Ambassador clashes sharply with Konfederacja leader Mentzen Konfederacja leader Sławomir Mentzen amplified the controversy by sharing a video of Berkowicz's speech on the X platform and adding his own comment in English, stating that "Israel is the new Third Reich." United States Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose responded directly to Mentzen's post with a pointed rebuke.

„Shame on you! Perhaps you've even noticed that it's no longer quite so easy to push us Jews around? We defend ourselves with everything we have, without apology. We stand with our friends and know how to fight and defeat our enemies.” — Tom Rose via Wprost

Mentzen replied to the American diplomat with a single question: "Are you threatening me?" The exchange drew further attention to the incident and extended the diplomatic fallout beyond the walls of the Sejm. The Israeli Embassy in Poland issued a formal statement describing the incident as an "antisemitic horror" and noted that Berkowicz had desecrated the Israeli flag "instead of expressing solidarity with the victims of the Holocaust" on the very day Israel observes Yom HaShoah. The embassy's statement read: "We strongly condemn today's antisemitic horror in the Polish parliament by MP Berkowicz."

Security services warn of rising right-wing extremism in Poland The incident prompted broader commentary from Polish journalists and analysts about the trajectory of political extremism in the country. Journalists Dominika Długosz and Mariusz Gierszewski, speaking on the podcast "In Connection with the Investigation," noted that Polish security services have expressed concern about a new wave of right-wing extremism. Gierszewski cited a recent arson attack on a factory linked to an Israeli company in the Czech Republic, in which three Polish nationals were among those detained, calling it "a very dangerous signal that some international extremist groups are finding a ground for their activities here." He added that Polish services were operating at their "highest level of readiness" around Holocaust memorial sites, with police helicopters conducting aerial surveillance over locations including the Umschlagplatz in Warsaw in the days preceding the commemorations of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Długosz drew a distinction between criticism of Israeli policy toward civilians and antisemitism, arguing that growing anti-Israeli sentiment in Poland "has nothing to do with anti-Semitism, only with Israel's policy towards the civilian population." The Berkowicz affair, however, has sharpened the debate over where political provocation ends and criminal conduct begins, with the Sejm Chancellery's legal analysis still ongoing as of Wednesday morning.

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