Prime Minister Naftali Bennett of Israel lashed out against Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for his unforgivable comments about Hitler and Jews. In defense of his scandalous February statement about the ‘denazification’ of Zelenskyy-run Ukraine, Lavrov said, “Some of the worst antisemites are Jews,” and that Hitler “had Jewish blood.”
The comments were made in an interview on Italian television, where Lavrov claimed that Ukrainian President Zelenskyy’s Jewish heritage did not present a paradox with Russian claims that it was denazifying Ukraine.
Sergey Lavrov said that Ukraine could still have Nazi elements even if some officials, including Ukraine’s president, were Jewish.
Prime Minister Bennett denounced Lavrov’s comments, saying, “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.”
The Russian Foreign Minister’s comments were also condemned by other Israeli ministers.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid responded to the outrageous statements, “This is an unforgivable and scandalous comment, a terrible historical error and we expect an apology,” Lapid states, “The Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust. The lowest form of racism against Jews is blaming the Jews themselves for antisemitism.”
Conspiracy theories about Adolf Hitler having Jewish roots have been circulating for years and have been debunked by historians.
Bennett’s public remarks against Lavrov are the first sign of a new stance on Russia since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Bennett has not condemned Russia, and he did not accuse Russia of war crimes even when he expressed shock over the mass casualties reported in Bucha, Ukraine. On the other hand, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has spoken out harshly against Russia, and Israel voted against Russia in the United Nations. It has been noted that because of Russia’s military coordination with Israel in the Syrian conflict, and Bennett’s efforts to help negotiate a deal between Zelenskyy and Putin, Bennett may have been lukewarm in his previous public statements.
Dani Dayan, chairman of Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, said Lavrov’s comments were “absurd, dangerous and deserving condemnation.”
Dayan continued, “Equally serious is calling the Ukrainians in general, and President Zelenskyy in particular, Nazis. This, among other things, is a complete distortion of the history and a serious affront to the victims of Nazism.”
The Russian foreign minister specifically accused the US and Canada of training ‘neo-Nazis’ in the Ukrainian military. This refers to the Azov Battalion which is a unit of Ukraine’s National Guard defending Mariupol. The battalion originated from a neo-Nazi group and is known to have extremist leadership. However, there are members of all origins in the Azov Battalion, including Jewish Ukrainians.
Russian Ambassador Anatoly Viktorov was summoned to Israel and will meet with Israel’s Foreign Minister Deputy Director-General for Eurasia Gary Koren.
Israel demands an apology.