The Russian Foreign Ministry, on its official Telegram channel, responded to the words of Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who the day before called Minister Sergey Lavrov's statement that «Jews killed themselves during the Holocaust» unforgivable.
In its message, the Russian Foreign Ministry explained to the Israeli government why it «supports the neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv.»
The agency writes that as one of the “reinforced concrete” arguments [about why there are no neo-Nazis in Ukraine], the West cites the Jewish origin of Volodymyr Zelensky, but this argument, according to the Foreign Ministry, is “unsound”, since “the Jewish origin of the president is not a guarantee protection from rampant neo-Nazism in the country.
“History, unfortunately, knows tragic examples of cooperation between Jews and the Nazis. In Poland and other countries of Eastern Europe, the Germans appointed Jewish industrialists as heads of ghettos and Jewish councils («Judenrats»), some of whom are remembered for downright monstrous deeds. <…> The historical tragedy lies in the fact that if during the Second World War some Jews were forced to participate in crimes, then Zelensky, who speculates on his roots, does this quite consciously and quite voluntarily,” the Foreign Ministry added.
Yair Lapid and his cabinet were also told that in Ukraine “there is the most extreme anti-Semitism and Romophobia”, while mentioning “torchlight processions with portraits of Stepan Bandera” and “suffering” of Roma in Kyiv, and also reminded that in the capital of Ukraine there is a memorial to the dead in Baby Yar.
«We are in the metro, we have been bombed for several days.» What Jews of Ukraine say about Russian «denazification»
On May 2, a journalist from the Italian TV channel Mediaset asked Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov how Ukraine's accusations of Nazism fit with the fact that President Zelensky is a Jew. The minister replied: “I could be wrong, but Hitler also had Jewish blood. It means absolutely nothing. The wise Jewish people say that the most ardent anti-Semites are, as a rule, Jews.
After that, the Israeli Foreign Ministry called the Russian ambassador for an explanatory conversation.
Vladimir Zelensky also answered Lavrov in his address: “How could such a thing be said on the eve of the anniversary of the victory over Nazism? These words mean that the highest diplomat in Russia shifts the blame for the crimes of the Nazis to the Jewish people. There are no words,” the President of Ukraine said.