‘Unforgivable and scandalous’ for Israel, Lavrov’s statement implying Hitler’s Jewish origin

LAST UPDATE 16.49

Israel today condemned remarks by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who hinted that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler had Jewish roots, and demanded an apology from Moscow.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the Russian ambassador using “harsh language” to Lavrov’s comments Sunday in an interview with Italian television.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gair Lapid said Lavrov had made “an unforgivable and scandalous statement.”

Angry reactions from Israel

The interview given by the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last night on the Italian television channel Rete 4, of the Berlusconi group, provoked angry reactions.

Asked by Italian journalist Giuseppe Brindisi, “how is it possible for Zelensky to be accused of Naziizing Ukraine, since he is of Jewish descent,” the Russian diplomat replied:

“And Hitler was of Jewish descent. And the Jewish people themselves, after all, say that the greatest anti-Semites are, precisely, the Jews themselves.”

As a sign of protest, the Israeli government today called for an explanation from the Russian ambassador to the country, while the president of the “Museum of Memory” in Jerusalem, Danny Dayan, stated that “these are false, dangerous and delusional statements.”

“Such lies are intended to accuse the Jews themselves of the most heinous crimes in history committed against them,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement.

“The use of the Holocaust by the Jewish people for political purposes must stop immediately,” he added.

Lapid apologized to Lavrov for his comments, saying that to claim that Hitler was of Jewish descent was to say that Jews had committed suicide and to accuse Jews of being anti-Semitic was “the highest level of racism.”

There was no immediate comment from the Russian embassy or from Lavrov himself.

Danny Dayan, president of the Yad Vashem Memorial Museum in Jerusalem, Israel’s memorial to the six million Jews massacred in the Holocaust, said the Russian foreign minister’s remarks were an “insult and a serious blow to the victims of real Nazism “.

Speaking on the Kahn radio station, Diane claimed that Lavrov was spreading “an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that has no basis in reality.”

The identity of one of Hitler’s grandfathers is unknown, but there has been some speculation, which has never been substantiated, that he may have been a Jew.

Lapid rejected Lavrov’s claim that pro-Nazis dominate the Ukrainian government and army.

“The Ukrainians are not Nazis. Only the Nazis were Nazis and only they proceeded to systematically destroy the Jewish people,” said Lapid, whose grandfather died in the Holocaust.

A German government spokesman said today that Lavrov’s comment on Hitler was “outrageous” propaganda.

Israel has repeatedly expressed its support for Ukraine after the Russian invasion. However, wary of strained relations with Russia, a powerful mediator in neighboring Syria, has initially avoided direct criticism in Moscow and has not imposed formal sanctions on Russian oligarchs.

However, relations have become more strained, with Lapid last month accusing Moscow of committing war crimes in Ukraine.

At the same time, the Ukrainian president has made similarities between the Russian invasion of his country and World War II. In a speech to the Israeli parliament in March, Zelensky compared the Russian invasion of Ukraine to Nazi Germany’s plan to kill all Jews during World War II.

Yad Vashem at the time described his comments as “irresponsible”, saying that they were belittling the historical events of the Holocaust.

With information from ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ