The Russian Foreign Ministry has issued a condemnation of Israel over the latter's decision to vote to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council earlier this month.
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A statement from Russia's Foreign Ministry accused Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid of an "anti-Russian attack" for remarks made in his name shortly after the UN General Assembly voted 93:24 to suspend Russia from the UNHRC.
"There is an attempt to exploit the situation in Ukraine to distract the attention of the international community from one of the longest unsolved conflicts – the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," the Russian message reads.
In the statement, Moscow voices criticism of "the remarks of the person who heads the Israeli Foreign Ministry, which created discord and negativity."
The Russian government added that Israel was "perpetrating an illegal occupation and annexing Palestinian territories."
The statement goes on to claim that "the longest occupation since World War II is being carried out with the quiet assent of leading western nations, and the declared support of the US."
The Russian government proceeded to accuse Israel of imposing "brutal" sanctions on the Gaza Strip, which it described as "an open-air prison, in which 2 million people have been forced to survive for 14 years under conditions of an air, land, and sea blockade."
In addition to Israel's decision to vote to suspend Russia from the UNHRC, it is possible that the Russians are also striking back at Lapid's recent comments that Russian soldiers were committing "war crimes" in Ukraine.
Lapid had previously condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying that "a big, strong country [had] invaded a small neighbor, without any justification."
Israel has opted not to respond to Russia's condemnation of Lapid. Israel's diplomatic apparatus thinks that the statement does not indicate any actual change in Russian policy toward Israel, and that it was mostly Russia "blowing off steam."
A diplomatic official noted that the condemnation was issued by a relatively low level of the Russian Foreign Ministry, and that nothing in the message had been explicitly voiced by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov or his deputy.
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