Poland’s new defense minister has asserted that the anti-Semitic “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” is true.

The appointment of Antoni Macierewicz of the right-wing Justice and Law Party, which earned a majority in the country’s recent national elections, was announced Monday.

The “Protocols,” which purports to be about a Jewish cabal planning world domination through the economy and media, has been proven to be a hoax.

In 2002, Macierewicz told Radio Maryja that he had read the “Protocols” and, while acknowledging that the document may not be authentic, said, “Experience shows that there are such groups in Jewish circles,” The Guardian newspaper of Britain reported Tuesday.

Macierewicz, a former member of Poland’s anti-communist opposition movement and deputy defense minister, is known for his efforts to purge the country’s military intelligence services of communist and Russian influence.