Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid slammed Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, on Monday, for alleging that Adolf Hitler may have “had Jewish blood” and summoned Moscow’s diplomat for “clarifications”. 

Lavrov was speaking to the Italian outlet Mediaset’s Rete 4 channel, where he referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying he “puts forward an argument of what kind of Nazism can they have if he himself is Jewish”. Then, the interview transcript on Russia’s foreign ministry site, quotes Lavrov saying “I could be wrong, but Hitler also had Jewish blood”. 

His words come against the backdrop of Moscow’s desire to “denazify” and “demilitarize” the neighbouring country. 

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Israel, which has maintained a delicate balance between Ukraine and Russia since the latter sent in troops on February 24, has expressed rage over Moscow’s ambassador’s statements. 

In a statement from the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Lavrov’s comments have been categorized as “an unforgivable and outrageous statement as well as a terrible historical error”. 

Lapid added, “Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust”, continuing, “The lowest level of racism against Jews is to accuse Jews themselves of antisemitism.” The statement concluded that the Russian ambassador to Israel had been called to provide clarifications on Lavrov’s statement. 

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Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also slammed Lavrov’s lies, saying they “accuse the Jews themselves of the most awful crimes in history”. He added “No war in our time is like the Holocaust or is comparable to the Holocaust”, continuing, “The use of the Holocaust of the Jewish people as a political tool must cease immediately.” 

Zelensky addressed Lavrov’s statements in his nightly address too. The man, whose family survived the holocaust, said “These words mean that Russia’s top diplomat is blaming the Jewish people for Nazi crimes”, concluding, “No words”. 

He further said, “Such an anti-Semitic thrust by their minister means Russia has forgotten all the lessons of World War II. Or maybe they never studied those lessons.”