Israel blasts Russia for claiming Hitler had 'Jewish blood'

Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid blasted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday for making the “unforgivable” claim that German dictator Adolf Hitler had Jewish roots in an attempt to justify Russian President Vladimir Putin’s call to “de-Nazify” Ukraine.

Foreign Minister Lavrov’s remarks are both an unforgivable and outrageous statement as well as a terrible historical error. Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust. The lowest level of racism against Jews is to accuse Jews themselves of antisemitism.

— יאיר לפיד - Yair Lapid🟠 (@yairlapid) May 2, 2022

“The Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust. The lowest level of racism against Jews is to blame Jews themselves for antisemitism,” Lapid told Israel’s YNet news website.

Lavrov made the statements in a Sunday interview with Italy’s Zona Bianca. When asked how the Kremlin can claim that it is fighting to “de-Nazify” Ukraine when President Zelensky is himself a Jew, Lavrov responded, “I could be wrong, but Hitler also had Jewish blood. [That Zelensky is Jewish] means absolutely nothing. Wise Jewish people say that the most ardent anti-Semites are usually Jews,” the BBC reported.

Soon after the comments were made, Israel's foreign ministry summoned Russia's ambassador in Tel Aviv for "clarification" and demanded an apology.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also condemned Lavrov’s assertion, saying, “Such lies are meant to blame the Jews themselves for the most terrible crimes in history and thus free the oppressors of the Jews from their responsibility.”

"No war today is the Holocaust or is like the Holocaust," he added.

Yad Vashem, Israel’s World Holocaust Remembrance Center, also condemned Lavrov’s statements, calling them “unfounded, delusional and dangerous remarks which deserve to be condemned.”

Ukrainian officials were also quick to condemn Lavrov’s remarks.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the minister’s comments served as further evidence of Russia’s own “deep-rooted anti-Semitism.”

“By trying to rewrite history, Moscow is simply looking for arguments to justify the mass murders of Ukrainians,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote in a tweet.

#Lavrov's direct anti-Semitic statements, accusations of Jews of the WWII and the Holocaust are the evidence of Russia being a successor to Nazi ideology.
By trying to rewrite history, Moscow is simply looking for arguments to justify the mass murders of Ukrainians. (1/2)

— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) May 2, 2022

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin first launched his “special military operation” on Feb. 24, Israel has attempted to walk a fine line between Moscow and the West. Although Tel Aviv has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine, it has been slow to criticize Moscow and has not joined international sanctions against it.  

Although Israel has provided helmets and bulletproof vests to Ukrainian rescue workers, it has not recently supplied the country with weapons, Israeli officials have said.