The Prime Minister of Israel, Naftali Benett, on Thursday has said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin has felt sorry for comments made by Moscow’s top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov, who said Adolf Hitler may have had “Jewish blood.”
The following remarks had sparked anger in the Jewish state.
According to the statement released by Bennett’s office, “The Prime Minister accepted President Putin’s apology for Lavrov’s comments and thanked him for clarifying his attitude towards the Jewish people and the memory of the Holocaust.”
As per the summarized by the Kremlin following the Bennett-Putin call, which came as Israel observed 74 years since the formation of the Jewish state, it did not comment on a Putin apology.
It did, however, state that the leaders negotiated the “historical memory” of the holocaust.
As per reports, Sergey Lavrov claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “puts forward an argument of what kind of Nazism can they if he himself is Jewish.”
As per the transcript posted on the Russian foreign ministry website, Lavrov added that, “I could be wrong, but Hitler had Jewish blood as well.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid noted the comments as “an unforgivable and outrageous statement as well as terrible historical error.”
Bennett condemned the remarks as “lies” that he said effectively “accuse the Jews themselves of the awful crimes in history”, perpetrated against themselves.
Russia’s ambassador to Israel was called to “clarify” the comments. Israel has aimed to tread a delicate line since the day Russia called full-scale military operation against Ukraine in February, with Bennett stressing Israel’s close ties to Moscow & Kyiv.
Bennett has, in particular, sought to keep Russian cooperation with Israeli strikes in Syria, where the Russian army is on the ground.
Israel has so far declined Ukraine’s request for military support instead of supplying bulletproof vests and helmets for medical workers and an Israeli field hospital.
Bennett has attempted to negotiate in the conflict & is among a few of world leaders to hold a meeting with Putin since the invasion, travelling to Moscow in early March.