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Prime Minister of Israel, Naftali Bennett PA

Israeli PM Bennet ‘accepts apology from Putin over Hitler remarks’

Russia’s foreign minister made comments about the Holocaust that were deeply offensive to Jews.

ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER Naftali Bennett has said he accepted an apology from Russian President Vladimir Putin for controversial remarks about the Holocaust made by Moscow’s top diplomat.

The two leaders talked over the phone, after which an Israeli statement said Putin had apologised.

However, the Russian statement about the call made no mention of an apology.

Instead, it said they emphasised the importance of marking the Nazi defeat in the Second World War, which Russia celebrates on Monday.

Bennett emerged as a potential mediator between Russia and Ukraine shortly after Moscow’s invasion.

However, that role was thrown into doubt this week when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made comments about the Holocaust that were deeply offensive to Jews.

Asked in an interview with an Italian news channel about Russian claims that it invaded Ukraine to “de-Nazify” the country, Lavrov said that Ukraine could still have Nazi elements even though its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is 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.

israel-russia-ukraine Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Yuri Kochetkov Yuri Kochetkov

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who has harshly criticised Russia over the invasion, 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.”

He demanded that Russia apologise and Israel summoned the Russian ambassador in protest.

Bennett, who has been more measured in his criticism of Russia’s invasion, also condemned Mr Lavrov’s comments. On Thursday, he said Putin had apologised.

“The Prime Minister accepted President Putin’s apology for Lavrov’s remarks and thanked him for clarifying the president’s attitude towards the Jewish people and the memory of the Holocaust,” Bennett’s office said in a statement.

Evoking Russia’s deeply-rooted narrative of suffering and heroism in the Second World War, Mr Putin has portrayed the war in Ukraine as a struggle against Nazis, even though it has a democratically elected government and a Jewish president whose relatives were killed in the Holocaust.

Israel gained independence in the wake of the Holocaust and has served as a refuge for the world’s Jews. The Holocaust and its remembrance remain central to Israel’s national identity, and the country marked its annual Holocaust memorial day last week. The Nazis and their collaborators killed 6 million Jews during the Second World War.

Israel has tried to maintain ties with Russia despite the war, in part because Russia has a large military presence in neighbouring Syria, where Israel routinely strikes suspected Iranian military targets. Israel and Moscow coordinate their actions in Syria to avoid coming into conflict.

That paved the way for Bennett to be able to try to mediate between the sides in Ukraine, a role he seems to have resumed this week.

Bennett’s office said he and Putin discussed plans to evacuate civilians from a besieged steel plant in the port city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine. That came after a call between Bennett and Zelenskyy yesterday.

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    Mute Padraig
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    Apr 16th 2017, 3:55 PM

    Looks good.

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    Mute David Huston
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    Apr 16th 2017, 5:06 PM

    @Padraig: Red Thumb.

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    Mute Pablo
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    Apr 16th 2017, 6:39 PM

    I doubt it just “popped up”
    Serious amount of time and effort gone into this, it looks good

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    Mute Brian
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    Apr 16th 2017, 5:29 PM

    Does the author works for the Ladbible by any chance .

    Has this Sculpture “broke the internet” as well ?

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    Mute Mick McGuinness
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    Apr 16th 2017, 4:23 PM

    A giant red squirrel eating a nut, like the politician in the Dail putting all their nut’s in one place.

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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Apr 17th 2017, 2:29 AM

    @Mick McGuinness: In Merkel’s hand???

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    Mute Thomas M Bourke
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    Apr 16th 2017, 5:15 PM

    Ah so *that’s* what they were doing on the cherry picker on Thursday!

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    Mute Tony Hardwicke
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    Apr 16th 2017, 9:17 PM

    Wonder how long it’ll last. .I’d say the local apaches are planning their assault on it

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    Mute jackmurphy
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    Apr 16th 2017, 4:01 PM

    it looks how its supposed to look, rubbish

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    Mute Soccer T's
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    Apr 16th 2017, 4:27 PM

    @jackmurphy: Didn’t get any Easter eggs jack? Cheer up

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    Mute Jed I. Knight
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    Apr 16th 2017, 8:55 PM

    @jackmurphy: If it makes you smile or you get a giggle from it, great. If it doesn’t, simply avert your sensitive eyes and keep on walking.

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    Mute Jack Cassady
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    Apr 17th 2017, 7:38 PM

    What a load of rubbish.

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