TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel lashed out at Russia on Monday over its foreign minister’s “unforgivable” comments about Nazism and anti-Semitism, including claims that Adolf Hitler was Jewish. Israel, which summoned the Russian ambassador in response, said the comments blamed Jews for their own murder in the Holocaust.
It was a sharp decline in ties between the two countries at a time when Israel has tried to maintain a neutral position between Russia and Ukraine and remain in Russia’s good place for its security needs in the Middle East.
Asked in an interview with an Italian news channel about Russian claims that it invaded Ukraine to “denazify” the country, Sergey Lavrov said that Ukraine could still have Nazi elements even if some figures, including the country’s president, were Jewish.
“So when they say ‘How can there be Nazification if we are Jews?’ In my opinion, Hitler also had Jewish origins, so it means absolutely nothing. For some time we have heard from the Jewish people that the biggest anti-Semites were Jews,” he said, speaking to the station in Russian, dubbed by an Italian translation.
In some of the harshest comments since the start of the war in Ukraine, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called Lavrov’s statement “inexcusable, outrageous and a horrible historical mistake.”
“Jews did not commit suicide in the Holocaust,” said Lapid, the son of a Holocaust survivor. “The lowest level of anti-Jewish racism is blaming the Jews themselves for anti-Semitism.”
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who has been more measured in his criticism of the Russian invasion, also condemned Lavrov’s comments.
“His words are false and his intentions are wrong,” he said. “The Jewish people’s use of the Holocaust as a political tool must cease immediately.”
Israel’s Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem called the comments “absurd, delusional, dangerous and condemnable.”
“Lavrov is propagating the inversion of the Holocaust, turning victims into criminals on the basis of promoting a completely unfounded claim that Hitler was of Jewish descent,” he said in a statement.
“Just as serious is calling Ukrainians in general and President (Volodymyr) Zelenskyy in particular Nazis. This, among other things, is a complete distortion of history and an affront to the victims of Nazism.”
In Germany, government spokesman Steffen Hebstreit said the Russian government’s “propaganda” efforts were unworthy of comment, calling them “absurd.”
Nazism has figured prominently into Russia’s goals and war narrative as it fights in the Ukraine. In his attempt to legitimize the war in the eyes of Russian citizens, President Vladimir Putin has portrayed the battle as a fight against the Nazis in Ukraine, despite the fact that the country has a democratically elected government and a Jewish president whose relatives were killed in the Holocaust.
Ukraine also condemned Lavrov’s comments.
“In trying to rewrite history, Moscow is simply looking for arguments to justify the mass murder of Ukrainians,” tweeted Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Lavrov’s comments exposed the “deep-seated anti-Semitism of Russian elites.”
World War II, in which the Soviet Union lost an estimated 27 million people and helped defeat Nazi Germany, is a linchpin of Russia’s national identity. Repeatedly reaching for the historical narrative that casts Russia as a savior against the forces of evil has helped the Kremlin rally Russians around the war.
Israel was formed as a haven for Jews in the wake of the Holocaust. More than 70 years later, the Holocaust is central to its national ethos and has positioned itself at the center of global efforts to remember the Holocaust and combat anti-Semitism. Israel is home to a shrinking population of 165,000 Holocaust survivors, most in their 80s and 90s, and last week the country celebrated its annual Holocaust remembrance day..
But those goals sometimes clash with their other national interests. Russia has a military presence in neighboring Syria, and Israel, which carries out frequent strikes against enemy targets in the country, relies on Russia for security coordination to prevent its forces from clashing with each other. That has forced Israel to tread carefully in its criticism of the war in Ukraine.
While sending humanitarian aid to Ukraine and expressing support for its people, Israel has been measured in its criticism of Russia. It has not joined international sanctions against Russia or provided military aid to Ukraine.
That paved the way for Bennett to try to mediate. between the sides, an effort that appears to have stalled as Israel grapples with its own internal unrest.
The Holocaust and the constant manipulation of its history during the conflict has sparked outrage in Israel before.
In a speech to Israeli lawmakers in March, Zelenskyy compared Russia’s invasion of his country to the actions of Nazi Germany, accusing Putin of trying to carry out a “final solution” against Ukraine. The comparisons drew an angry condemnation from Yad Vashem, which said Zelenskyy was trivializing the Holocaust.
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Associated Press writers Nicole Winfield in Rome and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.
Reference-apnews.com