In a Monday ceremony in the Polish Sejm, MP Marcin Józefaciuk condemned remarks by U.S. Ambassador Thomas Rose as “despicable” amid a Hanukkah celebration.
Hanukkah Menorah Lighting in Sejm
Polish MP Marcin Józefaciuk attended a ceremony for lighting the Hanukkah menorah at the Sejm. The event is part of an annual Jewish festival observed for eight days.
During the ceremony, the Sejm’s marshal and a Chabad rabbi lit candles, joined by leaders of the Polish Jewish community, Israeli Ambassador Yaakov Finkelstein, and U.S. Ambassador Thomas Rose.
Tom Rose on “Most Brutal Manifestations of Antisemitism”
In a brief address and on social media, Thomas Rose described Hanukkah as “the first documented testament to freedom of religion and politics.” He characterized the holiday as a “battle against Hellenistic paganism” aimed at erasing the Bible and God from human memory.
Rose added that “the most brutal forms of antisemitism outside the Middle East have no place in Central Europe, especially not in Poland” but suggested such hatred exists in supposedly liberal Western democracies.
He further linked a recent terrorist attack in Sydney to a loss of faith in societal values, arguing that “civilization survives only when evil is ruthlessly opposed.”
Józefaciuk: Despicable Speech
Marcin Józefaciuk, formerly of the KO club and now unaffiliated, denounced the ambassador’s remarks as “despicable.” He stated they promoted a narrative of war and aggression rather than freedom and hope.
Józefaciuk warned that the ambassador’s language of resistance and elimination “alienated Poland’s historical values” and that the speaker had failed to build bridges between cultures.
Hanukkah: Jewish Festival of Light
Hanukkah commemorates the 2nd‑century‑BC Maccabean uprising against the Seleucid empire, which sought to impose Greek religious practices on Jews. The festival is observed for eight days, usually in December.