Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday apologized to Naftali Bennett, Israeli Prime Minister, for the remarks of his head of diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, who had claimed that Adolf Hitler had “Jewish blood”.
“The Prime Minister accepted President Putin’s apologies for Lavrov’s remarks and thanked him for clarifying his attitude regarding the Jewish people and the memory of the Holocaust,” Naftali Bennett’s office said.
In a press release published Thursday, May 5 by the Kremlin, no mention was made of an apology presented by Vladimir Putin. However, it was clarified that the two leaders discussed the “historical memory” of the Holocaust during a phone call.
During an interview with an Italian television channel on Sunday evening, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed that Adolf “Hitler also had Jewish blood.” This allegation, which refers to rumors regularly denied by historians, angered Israel, which summoned the Russian ambassador on Monday for “clarifications”.
The Holocaust as a political tool
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also denounced the use of the Shoah as a “political tool”, judging that “no war is comparable to the Shoah”. The remarks were also condemned by Germany, the United States and Ukraine, countries which Russia invaded on February 24, citing the need to “denazify” it.
In a speech at the end of March to elected members of the Israeli Parliament, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Israel to “make a choice” by supporting kyiv against Moscow, and asked the Jewish state to provide it with weapons. Israel provided protective equipment to Ukraine but did not send weapons, according to Israeli officials.