Tel Aviv –
Minister of Foreign Affairs Russia Sergei Lavrov reaps criticism after mentioning Adolf Hitler have Jewish origins. One who delivered strong condemnation was Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet.
Reported from AFP, Tuesday (3/5/2022), Lavrov initially spoke to the Italian outlet Mediaset’s Rete 4 channel in an interview released last Sunday. In the interview, Lavrov claimed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ‘made an argument about what kind of Nazism they could have if he was a Jew himself’.
Lavrov, according to a transcript posted on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry, later added: “I could be wrong, but Hitler also had Jewish blood.”
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett later denounced Lavrov’s ‘lies’. He said Lavrov was accusing the Jews themselves of the most horrific crimes in history.
“There is no war in our time that is like the Holocaust or comparable to the Holocaust. The use of the Jewish Holocaust as a political tool must stop immediately,” Bennett said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid also criticized Lavrov. It has summoned the Russian Ambassador to provide clarification.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Israel has been trying to maintain a balance between the two sides. However, Lavrov’s remarks to the Italian channel sparked outrage in Israel. Russia himself stated that he wanted to ‘demilitarize’ and ‘denazify’ Ukraine.
Lapid condemned Lavrov’s statement as “an unforgivable and outrageous statement and a terrible historical error”.
“Jews didn’t kill themselves in the Holocaust. The lowest level of racism against Jews is accusing Jews themselves of antisemitism,” he said.
Also check out ‘Japan is furious, Ukraine compares Emperor’s photo with Hitler and Mussolini’:
(haf/imk)
–
