Russia's Foreign Ministry accused Israel on Tuesday of supporting neo-Nazis in Ukraine, further escalating a row that began when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed Adolf Hitler had Jewish origins.
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Israel lambasted Lavrov on Monday, saying his claim - made when talking about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who is Jewish - was an "unforgivable" falsehood that debased the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust.
Leaders from several Western nations denounced Lavrov's comments and Zelenskyy accused Russia of having forgotten the lessons of World War Two.
Monday saw Foreign Minister Yari Lapid call Lavrov's remarks "an unforgivable and outrageous statement as well as a terrible historical error. Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust. The lowest level of racism against Jews is to accuse Jews themselves of antisemitism."
Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said Tuesday that "Ukraine does not have a neo-Nazi regime, Zelenskyy is not a Nazi, and the fact that he is Jewish is irrelevant. Russian rhetoric, which links the invasion of Ukraine with the Soviet fight against Nazi Germany, complete with comparisons to Hitler, is a horrible lie. It's crude propaganda and disrespected the memory of the Holocaust. And yes – Israel supports Ukraine's sovereignty and integrity vis-à-vis a brutal Russian invasion."
Foreign Minister Lavrov's remarks are both an unforgivable and outrageous statement as well as a terrible historical error. Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust. The lowest level of racism against Jews is to accuse Jews themselves of antisemitism.
— יאיר לפיד - Yair Lapid
(@yairlapid) May 2, 2022
The Russian ministry said in a statement that Lapid's comments were "anti-historical" and "explaining to a large extent why the current Israeli government supports the neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv".
Moscow reiterated Lavrov's point that Zelenskyy's Jewish origins did not preclude Ukraine from being run by neo-Nazis.
"Antisemitism in everyday life and in politics is not stopped and is on the contrary nurtured (in Ukraine)," it said in a statement.
Lavrov made the Hitler assertion on Italian television on Sunday when he was asked why Russia said it needed to "denazify" Ukraine if the country's own president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, was himself Jewish.
Israel has expressed support for Ukraine following the Russian invasion in February. But wary of damaging relations with Russia, a powerbroker in neighboring Syria, it initially avoided direct criticism of Moscow and has not enforced formal sanctions on Russian oligarchs.
However, ties have grown more strained, with Lapid last month accusing Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine.
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