Russia has never threatened to use nuclear weapons; the offensive against Ukraine has only defensive purposes, because the Ukrainian government has become “the tool of Nazi extremists and the US government”; ethnic Russian civilians from Donbass are deliberately targeted by Ukrainian missiles. Serghei Lavrov rattles off the reasons of Moscow, more or less already known, for over a quarter of an hour. Then, suddenly, the bomb goes off. It is not paradoxical, argues Putin’s foreign minister, to affirm that Volodymyr Zelensky, a Jew, leads a country infested by Nazis, because “in my opinion Hitler was also of Jewish origins”.
Draghi’s position
Those three seconds were enough in the interview aired to White area on Rete 4 on Sunday 1 May to unleash a storm, in Italy (Mediaset also ends up in the sights) and in the world. Particularly in Israel, which has so far tried to preserve its good relations with Moscow from the effects of the war. “In Italy”, unlike in Russia, “there is freedom to express opinions, even when they are clearly false and aberrant. What Lavrov said is abhorrent. And as far as the part referring to Hitler is concerned, it is really obscene ”, commented Prime Minister Mario Draghi. «There was talk of an interview but in reality it was a rally. We must ask ourselves if it is acceptable to invite a person who asks to be interviewed without any cross-examination. It’s not that great, it’s not that great professionally, “adds the Prime Minister. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not take long to make himself heard: “The world must oppose this vile and dangerous rhetoric and support our Ukrainian partners in the face of the ferocious onslaught of the Kremlin.”
The position of Israel
For its part, the Israeli Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador to Tel Aviv for “clarification” on what Minister Yair Lapid called “unforgivable and outrageous” statements, as well as “a terrible historical error. The lowest level of racism against Jews – he observes – is to accuse the Jews themselves of anti-Semitism ». And yet this is exactly what Lavrov, in open contradiction to his image as a skilled polyglot and experienced diplomat, wanted to say. Another sentence pronounced in the interview leaves no doubts in this regard: “For some time now we have heard the wise Jewish people say that the greatest anti-Semites are precisely the Jews.” Naftali Bennett speaks of “serious” statements. But the Israeli premier warns all parties in the conflict: “Immediately stop resorting to the Holocaust of the Jewish people as a tool for political controversy” because, “as already said in the past, no war today is the Holocaust and is comparable to it “.
Zelensky: Russia with no memory of Nazism
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also spoke on the issue. “Such an anti-Semitic push on the part of his minister – he said – shows that Russia has forgotten all the lessons of the Second World War. Or maybe they never studied those lessons. There is a great scandal in Israel regarding the words “of Lavrov,” however no one hears objections or apologies from Moscow: there is silence. How could this be said – asks the Ukrainian leader – on the eve of the anniversary of the victory over Nazism? These words mean that the top Russian diplomat is blaming the Jewish people for the Nazi crimes ».
The false historical about Hitler’s Jewish origins
A way to remember the annoyance already expressed by the Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem and by the Yad Vashem, the Museum of the Shoah, for the comparison made by Ukrainian exponents between the Bucha massacre and the genocide of the Jews. The director of Yad Vashem, Dani Dayan, defines Lavrov’s words “false, delusional and dangerous”, explaining that they have their roots in an element that has remained obscure relating to the origins of Hitler’s paternal grandfather on which “conspiratorial theories were built. completely unfounded according to which Hitler himself was a Jew ». He condemns that also come from the Italian Jewish communities but which are unlikely to change Lavrov’s mind.