Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday apologized to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s statements about Adolf Hitler’s alleged “Jewish blood,” according to a statement from Mr. Bennett’s office.
PM accepted President Putin’s apology for Lavrov’s statements, thanking him for removing his attitude about Jews and memory of the Holocaustcan we read there.
The Kremlin made no reference to the apology in its own account of the discussion. He simply pointed out that the two leaders discussed the historical memories of the Holocaust.
Mr Lavrov’s spirited speech came in an interview with Italian broadcaster Rete 4 on Sunday night after he was asked how Moscow could claim denazify Ukraine, while its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish.
I may be wrong, but Hitler also had Jewish bloodreplied the head of Russia’s diplomacy, before taking home the point, adding: We have long heard Jewish scholars say that the greatest anti-Semite is the Jews themselves..
Historians have long denounced, the theory of Jewish blood of Hitler caused an outcry in Israel, where hundreds of thousands of citizens are of Russian descent.
The comments were criticized
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid slammed the comments both scandalous and unforgivable at a horrible mistake in history. The Russian ambassador to Israel was summoned for clarification.
Prime Minister Bennett also denounced the use of the Holocaust as political tooljudging thatno war can be compared to the Holocaust. Several Western countries, including Canada, the United States and Germany, have also condemned Mr. Lavrov’s statements.
In a press release published on Tuesday, Russian diplomacy however added to it, arguing that anti-historical statements by Mr. Lapid further explains the current government’s decision to support the neo-Nazi regime in kyiv.
President Zelensky also spoke by phone with Prime Minister Bennett on Wednesday.
In his daily video address to his countrymen, he said he discussed the statements with him. outrageous and completely unacceptable by Mr. Lavrov, who has surprised the worldaccording to a translation published on the website of the Ukrainian presidency.
So far, Mr. Lavrov has not apologized for his statements.
Source: Radio-Canada
