Determined to maintain a delicate balance between kyiv and Moscow since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Israel has nevertheless frankly opposed the recent remarks of the head of Russian diplomacy. Invited to Italian television on Sunday evening, Sergei Lavrov spoke of the “Jewish blood” of Adolf Hitler.
During this exchange, there was talk of the Russian discourse, repeated many times, according to which Moscow wants to “demilitarize” and “denazify” Ukraine.
An argument against which the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, had stood up, stressing that Nazism had no place in his country since he himself is of the Jewish faith.
Seeking to discredit this position, Sergei Lavrov pronounced these words, which aroused Israel’s anger: “I could be wrong, but Hitler also had Jewish blood”.
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 anti-Semitism.
— יאיר לפיד – Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) May 2, 2022
On Twitter on Monday, May 2, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid denounced what is “both an outrageous and unforgivable statement, as well as a horrific historical error. Jews did not kill themselves in the Holocaust. The lowest level of racism against Jews is to accuse them of anti-Semitism.
Yaïr Lapid, at the same time, summoned the Russian ambassador in order to obtain “clarifications”. He is supported in his approach by the Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, who accused Sergei Lavrov of using “the Jewish genocide” as a “political tool”. “No war is comparable to the Holocaust,” he added.
An “absurd” statement
The reactions are similar in Ukraine since the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kouleba, regretted that “Mr. Lavrov cannot hide the deeply rooted anti-Semitism within the Russian elites”. For Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, the incident is “another proof that Russia is the successor of Nazi ideology”.
Andriï Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, considers that Sergei Lavrov’s remarks are “revealing[s] conspiracy theories on which dictatorial regimes are always built”. Finally, the spokesman for the German government, Steffen Hebestreit considered that the declaration of the head of Russian diplomacy was “absurd” and was “propaganda”.
When he spoke to the elected members of the Israeli Parliament at the end of March, Volodymyr Zelensky called on Israel to “make a choice”, by supporting Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion. For the time being, the Jewish state has sent protective equipment to Ukraine but has not acceded to Volodymyr Zelensky’s main request: that of providing him with weapons.