Israel furious as Lavrov says ‘Hitler had Jewish roots’

JERUSALEM: Israel denounced Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday for suggesting that the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler had Jewish origins, saying his comments were anti-Semitic and dangerous.

Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid said the Russian ambassador would be summoned for “a tough talk” over the assertion, which Lavrov made on Sunday in an interview with Italian television.

“It is an unforgivable, scandalous statement, a terrible historical mistake, and we expect an apology,” Lapid told the YNet news website.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also denounced Lavrov’s “lies” that he said effectively “accuse the Jews themselves of the most awful crimes in history,” perpetrated against them.

There was no immediate comment from the Russian embassy.

During an interview with Italy’s Rete 4 channel, Lavrov was asked how Russia could say it needed to “denazify” Ukraine, when the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, was Jewish.

“When they say ‘What sort of nazification is this if we are Jews’, well I think that Hitler also had Jewish origins, so it means nothing,” Lavrov said, speaking through an Italian interpreter.

“For a long time now we’ve been hearing the wise Jewish people say that the biggest antiSemites are the Jews themselves,” he added.

In Berlin, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit told reporters: “I think the Russian propaganda being spread here by foreign minister Lavrov needs no comment - it’s absurd.”

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a tweet that Lavrov’s comments illustrate “deeply rooted anti-semitism of the Russian elites”.

“His heinous remarks are offensive to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine, Israel, and the Jewish people,” he added.

“More broadly, they demonstrate that today’s Russia is full of hatred towards other nations.”