In Poland, where criticising Israel remains taboo, Gaza solidarity rises

A Polish artist is among those raising awareness about alleged atrocities committed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza.

Warsaw, Poland – In an attempt to raise awareness about the abuse and humiliation suffered by Palestinians who have been arrested and tortured by Israeli troops, Igor Dobrowolski, a Polish painter and performance artist, dressed up in a purple overall in March and placed a yellow sack over his head.

In a video of the performance posted to Instagram, he is seen kneeling on a concrete floor, his hands zip-tied behind his back. A person beside him in khaki green playing the role of an Israeli soldier holds up a stick with laughing emojis – a nod to the evidence that many are livestreaming potential war crimes on social media.

Dobrowolski is seen urinating in fear, just as Palestinian prisoners did in footage posted earlier by Israeli troops, during which one is heard mockingly saying, “Oh no, what happened? He peed himself.”

Those words echo over the performance by Dobrowolski, who has dedicated his art this past year to the subject of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza – no easy task in a country still grappling with its Holocaust history.

“When you watch films about the Holocaust on TV, they are very serious, the perpetrators are shown as devoid of emotions. But the genocide which is happening today seems very funny to the perpetrators,” said Dobrowolski, referring to the videos uploaded by Israeli soldiers. “I decided to kneel in the middle of all that.”