Russia verbally follows up on Israel – “Support neo-Nazis in Ukraine”
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After Israel’s outrage at Sergey Lavrov’s crude comparisons with Hitler, the Russian Foreign Ministry followed suit. In a tweet, it accuses Israel of supporting “neo-Nazis in Ukraine.”
RUss Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has caused outrage in Israel with a Nazi comparison in relation to the Ukraine war. The government in Jerusalem demanded an apology and summoned the Russian ambassador to an interview on Monday. On Sunday evening on Italian television Rete4, Lavrov repeated the Russian justification for war that Nazis were at work in Ukraine. The counter-argument is: “How can there be nazification if he (Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy) is Jewish? I can be wrong But Adolf Hitler also had Jewish blood. That means nothing at all. The wise Jewish people say that the most fervent anti-Semites are usually Jews.”
Israel’s Foreign Minister Jair Lapid spoke on Monday of an “unforgivable, scandalous statement, a terrible historical error”. “We expect an apology.” Lapid added: “It wasn’t Jews who killed my grandfather, but Nazis.” He recommended Lavrov consult a history book. “Ukrainians are not Nazis. Only the Nazis were Nazis. Only they carried out the systematic annihilation of the Jews.” The head of the Israeli Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem, Dani Dayan, called Lavrov’s statements “absurd, delusional, dangerous and despicable”.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry demands an apology from the government in Moscow and says it has called the Russian ambassador to a “tough talk”. Israel has traditionally had good relations with both Russia and Ukraine. Since the beginning of the Russian attack, the government has been trying to mediate.
Russia followed up verbally on Tuesday, called Lapid’s statements “anti-historical” and accused Israel of supporting the “neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv”. Anti-Semitism is encouraged in Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry claims on Twitter. The statement also reiterates Lavrov’s statements that Zelensky’s Jewish origins do not rule out the possibility that Ukraine is being governed by neo-Nazis.
In Berlin, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said Lavrov’s “Russian propaganda” required no further comment. “It’s absurd,” he said of Lavrov’s testimonies.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter that Lavrov’s comments highlighted the “rooted anti-Semitism of Russian elites”. Lavrov’s “vile remarks are an insult to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine, Israel and the Jewish people.”
“Russia’s anti-Semitism” is becoming more and more visible, said the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andriy Yermak. He also described Lavrov’s comments as an expression of “conspiracy theories on which dictatorial regimes are always built”.
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