The Russian ambassador was summoned to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s remarks about Jews and Zelensky.
Lavrov classified some Jews as anti-Semites. Yair Lapid, Israeli Foreign Minister, called his words inexcusable and outrageous. The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry allowed himself words that outraged Israel in an interview with the Italian television company Mediaset, in response to the question of how he can explain the accusations of Nazism of the country with a Jewish president. Lavrov’s answer sounded like he writes “News”So:
“I could be wrong, but Adolf Hitler also had Jewish blood. It means absolutely nothing. The wise Jewish people say that the most ardent anti-Semites, as a rule, are Jews. “There are black sheep in the family,” as they say in our country.
According to the Russian Foreign Minister, the captured fighters of the Azov, Aidar and other battalions “wear tattoos of swastikas, symbols of Nazi battalions, on their clothes and on their bodies,” which indicates the presence of Nazism in Ukraine, writes DW.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said his Russian counterpart’s remarks were “not only inexcusable and outrageous – they are also a terrible historical mistake. Jews did not kill themselves during the Holocaust.” He also added that accusing the Jews themselves of anti-Semitism is “the lowest level of racism”:
To say that Hitler was a Jew is like saying that the Jews killed themselves. The Nazis persecuted the Jews, only the Nazis were Nazis, only the Nazis carried out the systematic extermination of the Jewish people.
Israeli Communications Minister Yoaz Handel, speaking on Israel’s Army Radio on May 2, criticized Lavrov’s claim that Hitler was Jewish as “a misleading notion designed to justify the appalling actions of the Russians in Ukraine.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Idan Roll called Lavrov’s words outrageous and inadequate: “This is part of a very disturbing trend of disdain for the Holocaust by the Russian leadership since the beginning of the war.”
Diaspora Minister Nahman Shai urged Lavrov to immediately retract his words:
“Hitler had no Jewish blood, repeating this heinous lie places the blame for the worst anti-Semitic crime in history on the Jews. Blaming Jews for crimes against Jews is inherently anti-Semitism.”
The statements of the Russian Foreign Minister are insulting both for the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as for Israel and the entire Jewish people, said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba. His words are quoted “Ukrainian Truth”:
“Minister Lavrov has failed to hide the deep-rooted anti-Semitism of the Russian elites. His disgusting comments are offensive to President Zelensky, Ukraine, Israel and the Jewish people.”
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