Polish far-right MEP calls for Israel to be declared a terrorist state

To solve the conflict in Gaza, Israel must be declared a terrorist state, Polish far-right MEP Grzegorz Braun said during a debate in the European Parliament on Monday, marking the first anniversary of the 7 October attacks.

Following a speech by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, which highlighted the war, death and devastation in Gaza, MEPs observed a minute's silence in memory of all the innocent lives lost.

“Israel should be declared and presumed a terrorist state. Mr Netanyahu and his ‘butchers’ are the largest and most criminal terrorist organisation,” said Polish far-right Confederation MEP Grzegorz Braun (Independent).

“To those of you who seem to support the state that is occupying Palestine for so long: Can't you hear the words of Israeli ministers, ambassadors, rabbis referring to Palestinians as animals, as non-humans?” he asked rhetorically, comparing Israeli’s rhetoric to that of SS officers and the Third Reich leaders.

Last year, as a Polish MP, he doused Hanukkah candles in the corridor of the Polish parliament with a fire extinguisher to protest against the celebration of Jewish holidays in the Polish parliament, injuring a participant in the celebration who tried to stop him.

Recalling the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israeli concertgoers, Metsola said nothing could ever justify the indiscriminate mass murder, rape, kidnapping and torture that took place a year ago. Since then, too few have been able to return to their loved ones - "this House will continue to do what we can to bring them all home," she said.

“We, in this chamber, did not lose our close ones. We are just observers. So if we find it difficult to understand some political decision by one or another side, how difficult it must be for those living in the Middle East and suffering from the consequences of this war,” EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrell told MEPs.

“Our duty is to give peace a chance, give hope to peace. (...) We have to try to find peace within hate. We have to go from mutual denial to mutual recognition,” he said, adding that an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages and the search for political solutions to the Lebanese question were needed to end the conflict.

He did, however, disagree with Braun's characterisation of Netanyahu and the entire Israeli state apparatus as "butchers".

“Israel is a democratic state, and it cannot be compared to what Hamas and Hezbollah do,” he said.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)