Pro-Palestinian demonstrator is removed from Warsaw Ghetto Uprising commemoration in Poland

• Published date: 20 April 2024
• Author: PHILISSA CRAMER/JTA
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

The man placed flowers atop a pile assembled for the occasion, then moved to the side of the stage where he unfurled a large Palestinian flag and stood with his head down, according to an attendee at the event

The protest featured just one participant and resolved without derailing the ceremony when police officers escorted him offstage. Still, it offered evidence of just how extensive and varied the settings for pro-Palestinian demonstrations have become since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Otcober 7.

The annual ceremony in Warsaw takes place outside the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes, located in what was once the Warsaw Ghetto, where the Nazis imprisoned nearly half a million Jews, almost all whom were ultimately murdered.

The monument memorializes the hundreds of ragtag, half-starved Jews who banded together in April 1943 to battle the Nazis - and held them off for nearly a month rather than surrender themselves and their brethren to the death camps. Ultimately, the uprising failed, but it remains the most famous symbol of resistance to the Nazis' genocidal ambitions.

Commemoration amidst diplomatic tensions

The gathering was smaller than last year, when leaders convened from all over the world for the...