Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Israel Lashes Out at Russia Over Lavrov's Nazism Remarks
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 3 years ago on
May 2, 2022

Share

 

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel on Monday lashed out at Russia over “unforgivable” comments by its foreign minister about Nazism and antisemitism — including claims that Adolf Hitler was Jewish. Israel, which summoned the Russian ambassador in response, said the remarks blamed Jews for their own murder in the Holocaust.

“The lowest level of racism against Jews is to blame Jews themselves for antisemitism.” — Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid

It was a steep decline in the ties between the two countries at a time when Israel has sought to stake out a cautious position between Russia and Ukraine and remain in Russia’s good stead for its security needs in the Middle East.

Asked in an interview with an Italian news channel about Russian claims that it invaded Ukraine to “denazify” the country, Sergey Lavrov said that Ukraine could still have Nazi elements even if some figures, including the country’s president, were Jewish.

“So when they say ‘How can Nazification exist if we’re Jewish?’ In my opinion, Hitler also had Jewish origins, so it doesn’t mean absolutely anything. For some time we have heard from the Jewish people that the biggest antisemites were Jewish,” he said, speaking to the station in Russian, dubbed over by an Italian translation.

In some of the harshest remarks since the start of the war in Ukraine, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called Lavrov’s statement “unforgivable and scandalous and a horrible historical error.”

“The Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust,” said Lapid, the son of a Holocaust survivor. “The lowest level of racism against Jews is to blame Jews themselves for antisemitism.”

Later, Lapid said Israel makes “every effort” to have good relations with Russia. “But there’s a limit and this limit has been crossed this time. The government of Russia needs to apologize to us and to the Jewish people,” he said.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who has been more measured in his criticism of Russia’s invasion, also condemned Lavrov’s comments.

“His words are untrue and their intentions are wrong,” he said. “Using the Holocaust of the Jewish people as a political tool must cease immediately.”

In Germany, government spokesman Steffen Hebstreit said the Russian government’s “propaganda” efforts weren’t worthy of comment, calling them “absurd.”

First Civilians Leave Mariupol Steel Plant

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine  — People fleeing besieged Mariupol described weeks of bombardment and deprivation as they arrived Monday in Ukrainian-held territory, where officials and relief workers anxiously awaited the first group of civilians evacuated from the steel plant that is the last stronghold of Ukrainian fighters in the devastated port city.

Video posted online Sunday by Ukrainian forces showed elderly women and mothers with small children climbing over a steep pile of rubble from the sprawling Azovstal steel mill and boarding a bus.

More than 100 civilians from the bombed-out plant were expected to arrive in Zaporizhzhia, about 140 miles northwest of Mariupol, on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

“Today, for the first time in all the days of the war, this vitally needed green corridor has started working,” he said Sunday in a video message.

However, at least some of the people evacuated from the plant on Sunday were apparently taken to a village controlled by Moscow-backed separatists. The Russian military said that some chose to stay in separatist areas, while dozens left for Ukrainian-held territory. The information could not be independently verified.

In this photo taken from video, civilian evacuees sit in a bus in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Bezimenne, about 12 miles east of Mariupol, Ukraine, Saturday, April 30, 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed that an evacuation is underway of civilians at a steel plant in the bombed-out city of Mariupol. Zelenskyy said on social media Sunday that a group of 100 people are on their way from Azovstal steelworks to Ukrainian-controlled territory. (AP)

Key Developments in Russia-Ukraine War

— Evacuation of civilians from Ukrainian steel plant begins

— Israel angered by Lavrov’s remarks on Hitler and Nazism

— Pelosi, in surprise Kyiv trip, vows unbending US support

— Jill Biden to meet Ukrainian refugees in Romania, Slovakia

Poland Urges EU Sanctions on Russian Oil, Natural Gas

BRUSSELS — Poland urged its European Union partners on Monday to unite and impose sweeping sanctions on Russia’s oil and natural gas sectors over the war in Ukraine, and not to cave in to pressure to pay for their gas in Russian rubles.

EU ministers are meeting in Brussels to discuss their response to Russia’s decision last week to cut gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland. Energy giant Gazprom says the two countries failed to pay their bills in April.

“We will call for immediate sanctions on Russian oil and gas. This is the next, and urgent, and absolute step,” Polish Climate and Environment Minister Anna Moskwa said. “We already have coal. Now it’s time for oil, and (the) second step is for gas. The best option is, take them all together.”

Russian energy giant Gazprom cut supplies to Bulgaria and Poland last week after President Vladimir Putin said that “unfriendly” countries must start paying for gas in rubles, Russia’s currency. Bulgaria and Poland have refused to do so, like most EU countries. More Gazprom bills are due May 20, and the bloc is wary that Russia might turn off more taps then.

The 27 nation EU imports around 40% of the gas it consumes from Russia. But some member countries, notably Hungary and Slovakia, are more heavily dependent on Russian supplies than others, and support for a gradual phasing in of an oil embargo is emerging.

Zelenskyy: Ukrainians Taken to Russia Against Their Will

ATHENS, Greece — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that half a million Ukrainians have been “illegally taken to Russia, or other places, against their will.”

Speaking to Greek state TV ERT, Zelenskyy said the remaining civilians in the Azovstal factory in the city of Mariupol are afraid to board buses because they believe they will be taken to Russia.

The United Nations has begun evacuating civilians from the factory.

Zelenskyy said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres assured him that those evacuated would end up in an area controlled by the government of Ukraine.

“We want to believe this,” the Ukrainian leader said.

 

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

22 Miles on Foot, 10 Minutes on a Tram: An ‘Extraordinary’ Day Hike

DON'T MISS

Bakersfield to Host Sanders and AOC in ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ Event

DON'T MISS

Jaguar and Land Rover Maker Pauses Shipments to US as It Develops Post-Tariff Plans

DON'T MISS

China Hit Brakes on TikTok Deal After Trump Announced Wide-Ranging Tariffs

DON'T MISS

Shohei Ohtani Throws Second Bullpen Since Resuming Mound Ramp Up

DON'T MISS

Visalia Traffic Stop Nets $30K in Xanax, Marijuana

DON'T MISS

Fresno Joins Global Protest Against Donald Trump and Elon Musk

DON'T MISS

2 US Border Inspectors Charged With Taking Bribes to Wave in People Without Documents

DON'T MISS

The Latest: Trump’s Tariffs Unleash Trade War and Calls for Negotiations

DON'T MISS

Phone Footage Appears to Contradict Israel’s Account in Troops’ Killing of 15 Palestinian Medics

UP NEXT

Bakersfield to Host Sanders and AOC in ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ Event

UP NEXT

Jaguar and Land Rover Maker Pauses Shipments to US as It Develops Post-Tariff Plans

UP NEXT

China Hit Brakes on TikTok Deal After Trump Announced Wide-Ranging Tariffs

UP NEXT

Shohei Ohtani Throws Second Bullpen Since Resuming Mound Ramp Up

UP NEXT

Visalia Traffic Stop Nets $30K in Xanax, Marijuana

UP NEXT

Fresno Joins Global Protest Against Donald Trump and Elon Musk

UP NEXT

2 US Border Inspectors Charged With Taking Bribes to Wave in People Without Documents

UP NEXT

The Latest: Trump’s Tariffs Unleash Trade War and Calls for Negotiations

UP NEXT

Phone Footage Appears to Contradict Israel’s Account in Troops’ Killing of 15 Palestinian Medics

UP NEXT

Trump and Netanyahu to Discuss Gaza Crisis and Tariffs at Upcoming Meeting

China Hit Brakes on TikTok Deal After Trump Announced Wide-Ranging Tariffs

20 hours ago

Shohei Ohtani Throws Second Bullpen Since Resuming Mound Ramp Up

20 hours ago

Visalia Traffic Stop Nets $30K in Xanax, Marijuana

21 hours ago

Fresno Joins Global Protest Against Donald Trump and Elon Musk

21 hours ago

2 US Border Inspectors Charged With Taking Bribes to Wave in People Without Documents

23 hours ago

The Latest: Trump’s Tariffs Unleash Trade War and Calls for Negotiations

24 hours ago

Phone Footage Appears to Contradict Israel’s Account in Troops’ Killing of 15 Palestinian Medics

24 hours ago

Trump and Netanyahu to Discuss Gaza Crisis and Tariffs at Upcoming Meeting

1 day ago

Trump Doubles Down That Tariffs Will Pay Off for Americans

1 day ago

Senate GOP Approves Trump’s Tax Breaks and Spending Cuts After Late-Night Session

1 day ago

22 Miles on Foot, 10 Minutes on a Tram: An ‘Extraordinary’ Day Hike

The steep trail near the top of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway was covered in inches of spongy fallen needles and peppered with ankle-twist...

3 hours ago

3 hours ago

22 Miles on Foot, 10 Minutes on a Tram: An ‘Extraordinary’ Day Hike

19 hours ago

Bakersfield to Host Sanders and AOC in ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ Event

19 hours ago

Jaguar and Land Rover Maker Pauses Shipments to US as It Develops Post-Tariff Plans

20 hours ago

China Hit Brakes on TikTok Deal After Trump Announced Wide-Ranging Tariffs

20 hours ago

Shohei Ohtani Throws Second Bullpen Since Resuming Mound Ramp Up

A Visalia traffic stop on Friday, April 4, 2025, for tinted windows led to the arrest of a 22-year-old man after police found $30,000 worth of Xanax pills and a pound of marijuana in his vehicle. (Visalia PD)
21 hours ago

Visalia Traffic Stop Nets $30K in Xanax, Marijuana

21 hours ago

Fresno Joins Global Protest Against Donald Trump and Elon Musk

23 hours ago

2 US Border Inspectors Charged With Taking Bribes to Wave in People Without Documents

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend