Israel on Monday lashed out at Russia over "unforgivable" comments by its foreign minister about Nazism and antisemitism – including claims that Adolf Hitler was Jewish. Jerusalem summoned the Russian ambassador to Israel for clarifications, saying remarks blamed Jews for their own murder in the Holocaust.
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In some of the harshest remarks against Moscow since the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine began, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called Lavrov's statement "unforgivable, scandalous, and a horrible historical error."
"The Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust," Lapid said. "The lowest level of racism against Jews is to blame Jews themselves for antisemitism."
On Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the fact that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish does not contradict Moscow's claims that it launched the invasion to "de-Nazify" the country, claiming that even Hitler "had Jewish blood."
Speaking with Italian news channel Zona Bianca, Lavrov was asked how Russian President Vladimir Putin could claim he was trying to "de-Nazify" Ukraine when Zelenskyy, the country's democratically elected leader, was Jewish.
"So what if Zelenskyy is Jewish. The fact does not negate the Nazi elements in Ukraine. I believe that Hitler also had Jewish blood," Lavrov said, adding that "some of the worst antisemites are Jews."
Conspiracy theories that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler had some Jewish ancestry that may have motivated his virulent antisemitism have been repeatedly debunked by historians.
Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel described Lavrov's comments as "delusional" and said the Russian foreign minister was trying to "justify the terrible things the Russians are doing in Ukraine. The cheapening of the Holocaust is something I'm not willing to accept."
Asked in an interview with Army Radio Monday morning why Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid had not yet responded to Lavrov's remarks, Hendel said, "Diplomacy works on a different clock; Israel is working in a precise manner."
Meretz MK Yair Golan called Lavrov's comments "appalling, fundamentally antisemitic, and mainly false. They reflect the truth of the Russian government – a violent government that doesn't hesitate to eradicate its rivals from home, invade a foreign country, and then falsely accuse it of reviving Nazism."
Lavrov's comments also drew a quick rebuke from the Anti-Defamation League and Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust museum.
"In his transparently desperate efforts to justify Russia's invasion of Ukraine, FM Lavrov turns to highly offensive analogies and false comparisons. This misuse of Nazis, Hitler and the Holocaust must stop," the ADL said in a tweet.
In his transparently desperate efforts to justify Russia's invasion of Ukraine, FM Lavrov turns to highly offensive analogies and false comparisons. This misuse of Nazis, Hitler and the Holocaust must stop. https://t.co/ntKmY28YEW
— ADL (@ADL) May 1, 2022
Dani Dayan, the head of Yad Vashem, condemned Lavrov's remarks, which came in the same week that Israel was commemorating the Holocaust, calling his words "false, delusional and dangerous, and worthy of all condemnation."
Lavrov also said Russia was committed to working to prevent a nuclear war from ever beginning.
"Western media misrepresent Russian threats," he said, speaking in Russian through an Italian interpreter.
"Russia has never interrupted efforts to reach agreements that guarantee that a nuclear war never develops," he added.
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