Jerusalem: On Thursday, Israelโs Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Russian leader Vladimir Putin has apologised for remarks made by Moscowโs top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov. He had claimed Adolf Hitler may have had โJewish bloodโ.
The comments had sparked anger in the Jewish state.
โThe Prime Minister accepted President Putinโs apology for Lavrovโs remarks and thanked him for clarifying his attitude towards the Jewish people and the memory of the Holocaust,โ Bennettโs office said in a statement.
A Kremlin summary of the Bennett-Putin call, which came as Israel celebrated its 74th anniversary as a Jewish state, made no mention of Putin apologising.
It did, however, note that the leaders discussed the โhistoric memoryโ of the holocaust.
Lavrov claimed in an interview with an Italian media outlet published on Sunday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky โputs forward an argument of what kind of Nazism they can have if he himself is Jewish.โ
transcript posted on the Russian foreign ministry website, Lavrov said, โI could be wrong, but Hitler also had Jewish bloodโ.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid termed his comments as โan unforgivable and outrageous statement as well as a terrible historical error.โ
Bennett slammed the remarks as โlies,โ claiming that they effectively โaccuse the Jews themselves of the most heinous crimes in historyโ committed against themselves.
For clarifying the remarks, Russiaโs ambassador to Israel was summoned.
Since Russiaโs invasion of Ukraine, Israel has sought to walk a fine line, with Bennett emphasising Israelโs close ties to both Moscow and Kyiv.
Bennett has in particular sought to preserve Russian cooperation with Israeli strikes in Syria. There Russian forces are on the ground.
Ukraineโs requests for military support has been refuted by Israel.
Bennett has attempted to mediate the conflict and is one of only a few world leaders to meet with Putin since the invasion, visiting Moscow in early March.
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