Russia accuses Israel of backing 'neo-Nazis' in Kyiv as diplomatic row grows
Source: The Guardian
Russia accuses Israel of backing ‘neo-Nazis’ in Kyiv as diplomatic row grows
Moscow hits back at Israeli criticism of Sergei Lavrov’s claim that Adolf Hitler ‘had Jewish blood’
Andrew Roth, and Bethan McKernan in Jerusalem
Tue 3 May 2022 17.56 BST
Last modified on Tue 3 May 2022 18.09 BST
Russia has accused Israel of supporting the “neo-Nazi regime” in Kyiv as it escalates a diplomatic row with one of the few close US allies that decided not to join in sanctions against the Kremlin or send lethal military aid to Ukraine.
The dispute over remarks by Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, who said in an interview that Adolf Hitler “had Jewish blood” and that the “most rabid antisemites tend to be Jews”, has threatened to unsettle Israel’s careful position over Russia’s war in Ukraine.
On Monday, Israel summoned Russia’s ambassador to the foreign ministry and its foreign minister, Yair Lapid, called Lavrov’s remarks “unforgivable and outrageous … as well as a terrible historical error.”
Lapid wrote: “Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust. The lowest level of racism against Jews is to accuse Jews themselves of antisemitism.”
On Tuesday, Russia’s foreign ministry doubled down on Lavrov’s words, accusing Lapid of making “antihistorical” remarks about the Holocaust that “largely explain the course of the current Israeli government in supporting the neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/03/russia-accuses-israel-backing-neo-nazis-kyiv-diplomatic-row-grows
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