Polish Priest Who Branded Jews as ‘Cancer’ Cleared of Hate Crime
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
WARSAW, Poland — The Prosecutor’s Office in Bialystok has ended an investigation of a Polish priest who spoke of Jews being a “cancer” during a sermon, determining that no hate crime had been committed.
In a sermon on April 16 in Bialystok, Father Jacek Miedlar spoke of the “cancer which swept Poland,” apparently meaning Jews. He stressed that political correctness and tolerance enslave Poles.
According to the prosecutor, Miedlar “referred to the historical content and the Bible, pointing to examples of negative behavior of the representatives of the Jewish community from the time of slavery in Egypt, and generally referring to modern times.” The speech did not stigmatize a particular nationality, the prosecutor said Tuesday.
On the same day Miedlar, a known nationalist, wrote in response to the decision on Twitter: “Bialystok investigation discontinued! Zero tolerance for ‘Jewish cowardice’. Salut!”
He attached a picture showing Poles performing a Nazi salute taken on the night of June 23, 1936, when a group of Polish nationalists seized the city of Myślenice for several hours. During the siege, the nationalists beat Jewish residents and destroyed Jewish shops.
After a few hours Miedlar removed the post.
Miedlar also withdrew from the Congregation of the Missionaries, a religious order founded in 1625.
“The persecution of gay, liberal and Jewish groups led me to the fact that I can’t do my pastoral work,” he said, according to the Onet.pl website.
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