BRUSSELS—A Polish member of the European Parliament has reportedly denounced ‘’the circles of American Jews’’ in a row over a Polish legislation voted by the Senate that would criminalize accusations of Polish complicity in the Holocaust.
Speaking on national television on Saturday night, Ryszard Czarnecki, who is Vice-Preesident of the European Parliament and who represents the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, also claimed that Jews in the US “have often been even more aggressive” toward Poland “than the Jewish circles in Israel,” The Algemeiner reported.
Czarnecki approvingly quoted a maxim of Roman Dmowski — a violently anti-Semitic nationalist leader prominent in Poland during the inter-war years — declaring, “I am a Polish politician and I have Polish duties.”
The Polish MEP is set to be removed this week from his position as Vice-President of the European Parliament after he sparked outrage in the EU institution by comparing a fellow Polish MEP to a Nazi collaborator.
In a statement, the Parliament said its main political organ, the Conference of Presidents, had voted to end Czarnecki’s term due to “serious misconduct.”
Last month, Czarnecki compared MEP Roza Thun from Poland’s opposition Civic Platform party to a ”Szmalcownik”, a pejorative Polish term used to describe a person collaborating with the Nazis during World War II.
The Parliament said that the Conference of Presidents’ decision was not targeting Poland and the PiS, which is caught up in an ongoing battle with the EU concerning its rule of law and controversial judicial reforms.
“The proposal by the Conference of Presidents is not aimed at Poland or the ECR political group,” the Parliament said. “The proposal simply expresses the opinion of the political leaders that Mr Czarnecki should no longer represent them.”