Lavrov’s remark

Israel condemns Sergey Lavrov’s remark that Hitler ‘had Jewish blood’

Israeli foreign minister says Russian counterpart’s comment was ‘unforgivable and outrageous.’

BY LOUIS WESTENDARP

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Monday condemned comments by his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov that Hitler had Jewish blood as “unforgivable and outrageous.”

During an interview on Italian television Sunday night, Lavrov claimed that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy being Jewish does not negate his country having a Nazi element — a line pushed by Moscow to justify its lethal invasion. “I believe that Hitler also had Jewish blood, some of the worst anti-Semites are Jews,” Lavrov added.

Israel was quick to hit back and summoned the Russian ambassador.

“Foreign Minister Lavrov’s remarks are both an unforgivable and outrageous statement, as well as a terrible historical error,” Lapid said in a statement. “The lowest level of racism against Jews is to accuse Jews themselves of anti-Semitism,” he added.

Israeli Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel also blasted Lavrov’s claim about Hitler as “delusions that are meant to justify the Russians’ horrific acts in Ukraine.” Hendel said Sunday that he wouldn’t accept the “cheapening of the Holocaust.”

Ukraine also condemned Lavrov. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskyy, tweeted, “Lavrov’s direct anti-Semitic statements … are the evidence of Russia being a successor to Nazi ideology.”

A German government spokesperson said, “The Russian propaganda isn’t worth another comment. That’s absurd.”

In the days after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett traveled to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin claimed that Israel had offered to help negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

Speaking Monday, Bennett said Lavrov’s comments were “untrue and their intentions are wrong.”

The Israeli prime minister added, “The goal of such lies is to accuse the Jews themselves of the most awful crimes in history, which were perpetrated against them, and thereby absolve Israel’s enemies of responsibility.”