Israel says Vladimir Putin has apologized for his foreign minister’s statement about Hitler’s ‘Jewish blood’

Russian President Vladimir Putin apologize this thursday to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in statements by his foreign minister, who said Adolf Hitler had “Jewish blood,” the Israeli government reported.

“The prime minister accepted President Putin’s apology for the comments [Serguéi] Lavrov and thanked him for clarifying his position on the Jews and the memory of the Holocaust, ”the Israeli statement said.

Lavrov said on Sunday that the fact that the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelensky, Being of Jewish origin did not prevent him from running a “neo-Nazi” regimeas Russia pointed out, which used that argument to attack Ukraine in February.

“I may be wrong, but Hitler also has Jewish blood”said the head of Russian diplomacy.

rejected

Lavrov’s statements, referring to rumors regularly denied by historians, have caused outrage in Israel.

Israel, which from the beginning of the conflict has tried to maintain a delicate balance between Kyiv and Moscow, summoned the Russian ambassador the next day to ask for “clarification”.

“Minister Lavrov’s comments are scandalous, unforgivable and a horrible mistake in historyIsraeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said Monday.

Bennett also denounced Lavrov’s “lies,” saying, “The use of Jews in the Holocaust as a political tool must be stopped immediately.”

critics

The Russian minister’s statements were also condemned by Germany, the United States and Ukraine.

Ukraine considers Putin’s apology insufficient.

“I insist on that fact Antisemitism has long existed among Russia’s elite“said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, whereupon Lavrov must personally present his public apology to Jews around the world.”

Russia has stepped up criticism against Israel even after Lavrov’s statements, which exacerbated the controversy.

On Tuesday, Russian diplomacy repeated Lavrov’s comments and accused Israel “support the neo-Nazi regime in kyiv”. And he taught that “history, unfortunately, knows of tragic examples of cooperation between Jews and Nazis.”

On Wednesday, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said that “Israeli mercenaries“They fought in Ukraine alongside the Azov battalion, a regiment founded by militants far from the right before being integrated into regular Ukrainian forces.

In talks on Thursday, Putin and Bennett stressed the importance of May 9, when Russia celebrates victory over Nazism, and allows to “honor the memory of all victims” of World War II, including the victims of the Holocaust, “according to the Israeli statement.

Source: AFP

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