[/QUOTE]
Israel has condemned statements by the Russian Foreign Minister[/B] who claimed that Adolf Hitler had Jewish ancestry, accusing Sergei Lavrov of spreading anti-Semitism and trivializing the Holocaust.
"Such lies are intended to blame the Jews themselves for the most horrible crimes in history committed against them," Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement.
"The use of the Holocaust of the Jewish people for political purposes must stop immediately," he added."
"Tough talk"
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid demanded an apology from Lavrov[/B] for his comments, which were made yesterday, Sunday, in an interview with an Italian television network. The Israeli Foreign Ministry called on the Russian ambassador for "a tough discussion" regarding this allegation by the Russian diplomatic chief.
Lapid stressed that claiming that Hitler was of Jewish descent is like saying that Jews committed suicide and accusing Jews of being anti-Semitic is "the highest level of racism."
There was no immediate comment from the Russian embassy or from Lavrov himself.
How Lavrov's statement
During his interview with Italian TV network Rete 4, the Russian foreign minister was asked how Moscow could need to "de-Nazify" Ukraine when that country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish.
"When they say 'What kind of Nazification is this if we are Jewish,' I think Hitler also had Jewish ancestry, so this means nothing," Lavrov said, speaking through an Italian interpreter.
"For a long time we have heard the wise Jewish people say that the biggest anti-Semites are the Jews themselves," he added.
Danny Dayan, president of Jerusalem's "Museum of Memory" (Yad Vashem), Israel's memorial to the six million Jews slaughtered in the Holocaust, said the Russian foreign minister's statements were an "insult and a serious blow to the victims of real Nazism."
Speaking on the Khan radio trial, Dayan argued that Lavrov was spreading "an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that has no basis in reality."
The identity of one of Hitler's grandfathers is not known, but there has been some speculation, never substantiated by any evidence, that he may have been Jewish.
"Ukrainians are not Nazis"
Lapid rejected Lavrov's claim that pro-Nazis dominate the Ukrainian government and military.
"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 about Hitler was "outrageous" propaganda.
Israel has repeatedly expressed support for Ukraine since the Russian invasion. However, wary of tensions in its relations with Russia, a powerful mediator in neighboring Syria, it initially avoided direct criticism of Moscow and has not formally sanctioned Russian oligarchs.
However, relations have become more strained, with Lapid last month accusing Moscow of committing war crimes in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian president has also drawn analogies between Russia's invasion of his country and World War II. In a speech to the Israeli parliament in March, Zelensky compared the Russian attack on Ukraine to Nazi Germany's plan to murder all Jews during World War II.
Yad Vashem then called his comments "irresponsible," saying they trivialized the historical events of the Holocaust.
Source: APM
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