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Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid have publicly condemned Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s claims that “Hitler… had Jewish blood”, and that “some of the worst antisemites are Jews”. The head of Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, Dani Dayan, described the remarks as “false, delusional and dangerous, and worthy of all condemnation”.
The Russian Foreign Minister was asked by the Italian news channel Zona Bianca how he could claim that Russia trying to “de-Nazify” Ukraine when the country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish. He stated in response: “So what if Zelenskyy is Jewish. The fact does not negate the Nazi elements in Ukraine. I believe that Hitler also had Jewish blood”. He added that “some of the worst antisemites are Jews”.
Prime Minister Bennett denounced the comments: “The aim of such lies is to blame the Jews themselves for the most terrible crimes in history that were committed against them, thus freeing from responsibility the oppressors of Israel”.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid underlined that “this is an unforgivable and scandalous comment, a terrible historical error and we expect an apology”. “Hitler was not of Jewish origin and the Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust. The lowest form of racism against Jews is blaming the Jews themselves for antisemitism”, he added. Foreign Minister Lapid summoned Russian Ambassador Anatoly Viktorov following the remarks.
UPDATE: On Thursday it was reported that during a call with Prime Minister Bennett, Russian President Putin apologised for the comments made by the Kremlin’s top envoy. The Prime Minister’s office released a statement saying that he “accepted the apology of President Putin for comments by Lavrov and thanked him for clarifying the President’s view of the Jewish people and the memory of the Holocaust”.
