U.S. Ambassador Tom Rose publicly rebuked Polish MP Konrad Berkowicz on April 16th for comments made during a parliamentary session regarding the conflict in the Middle East.
Ambassador Rose’s Response
U.S. Ambassador Tom Rose reacted to a post by Sławomir Mentzen featuring a video of Konrad Berkowicz with an Israeli flag defaced with a swastika. Rose wrote on X, “Shame, shame, shame on you. Perhaps you’ve noticed that we Jews are no longer so easy to trample on, right? We defend ourselves with all our might, unapologetically, we stand by our friends and we know how to fight and defeat our enemies.”
Berkowicz’s Statements to the Sejm
During a session of the Sejm on April 14th, Berkowicz addressed the attacks in the Middle East, noting their impact on fuel prices. He then stated that the number of children killed in the conflict exceeded those lost during the entire war in Ukraine.
Berkowicz alleged that “Jews are using a prohibited phosphorus bomb that absorbs oxygen from the air and leads to their death by suffocation,” adding that the smoke from the bomb “gets into the lungs and burns them from the inside.” He further claimed that if a child survived suffocation, the white phosphorus would “stick to the cheek, to the handle and burn through the tissues to the bone.”
Accusations of Genocide
Berkowicz asserted that “Israel is committing genocide with particular cruelty before our eyes” and concluded by stating that “Israel is the new Third Reich.”