Israel demands apology after Russia says Hitler had Jewish roots
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[May 02, 2022]
By Crispian Balmer
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel denounced
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday for suggesting that
Adolf Hitler had Jewish origins, accusing Lavrov of spreading
anti-Semitism and belittling the Holocaust.
"Such lies are intended to accuse the Jews themselves of the most
horrific crimes in history that were 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.
Israeli Foreign Ministry Yair Lapid demanded an apology from Lavrov over
his comments, which were made on Sunday in an interview with Italian
television, and called in the Russian ambassador for "a tough talk" over
the assertion.
Lapid said that to claim Hitler was of Jewish descent was like saying
Jews had killed themselves, and accusing Jews of being anti-Semites was
"the basest level of racism".
There was no immediate comment from the Russian embassy or Lavrov
himself.
During his interview with Italy's Rete 4 channel, Lavrov was asked how
Russia could say it needed to "denazify" Ukraine, when the country's
president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, was Jewish.
"When they say 'What sort of nazification is this if we are Jews', well
I think that Hitler also had Jewish origins, so it means nothing,"
Lavrov said, speaking through an Italian interpreter.
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"For a long time now we've been hearing the wise Jewish people say that
the biggest anti-Semites are the Jews themselves," he added.
Dani Dayan, chairman of Yad Vashem, Israel's memorial to the six million
Jews killed in the Holocaust, said the Russian minister's remarks were
"an insult and a severe blow to the victims of the real Nazism".
Speaking on Kan radio, Dayan said Lavrov was spreading "an anti-Semitic
conspiracy theory with no basis in fact".
The identity of one of Hitler's grandfathers is not known but there has
been some speculation, never backed up by any evidence, that he might
have been a Jew.
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![](../images/050222pics/news_q35.jpg)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a joint news
conference with Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh (not pictured)
following their talks in Moscow, Russia April 27, 2022. Yuri
Kochetkov/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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STRAINED RELATIONS
Lapid dismissed Lavrov's assertion that pro-Nazi elements held sway
over the Ukrainian government and military.
"The Ukrainians aren't Nazis. Only the Nazis were Nazis and only
they dealt with the systematic destruction of the Jewish people,"
said Lapid, whose grandfather died in the Holocaust.
A German government spokesperson said on Monday that Lavrov's
comment on Hitler was "absurd" propaganda.
Israel has expressed repeated support for Ukraine following the
Russian invasion in February. But wary of straining relations with
Russia, a powerbroker in neighbouring Syria, it initially avoided
direct criticism of Moscow and has not enforced formal sanctions on
Russian oligarchs.
However, relations have grown more strained, with Lapid last month
accusing Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine.
However, the Ukrainian president has also run into flak in Israel by
looking to draw analogies between the conflict in his country and
World War Two. In an address to the Israeli parliament in March,
Zelenskiy compared the Russian offensive in Ukraine to Nazi
Germany's plan to murder all Jews within its reach during World War
Two.
Yad Vashem called his comments "irresponsible," saying they
trivialised the historical facts of the Holocaust.
(Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem and Valentina Za
in MilanWriting by Crispian BalmerEditing by Jeffrey Heller and
Bernadette Baum)
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