Moscow on Tuesday accused Israel of supporting "the neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv," doubling down on an allegation from the Russian Foreign Minister that Adolf Hitler may have "had Jewish blood" which sparked international outrage.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Monday condemned his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov for making an "unforgivable and outrageous statement as well as a terrible historical error" and summoned Moscow's Ambassador for "clarifications".
"Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust," he said. "The lowest level of racism against Jews is to accuse Jews themselves of antisemitism."
"We have paid attention to Foreign Minister Yair Lapid's anti-historical remarks, which largely explain the current government's decision to support the neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
"History unfortunately knows tragic examples of cooperation between Jews and Nazis," it said.
Mr. Lavrov, speaking to Italian outlet Mediaset's Rete 4 channel in an interview released on Sunday, claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "puts forward an argument of what kind of Nazism can they have if he himself is Jewish".
Mr. Lavrov, according to a transcript posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry website, then added: "I could be wrong, but Hitler also had Jewish blood".
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also denounced Mr. Lavrov's "lies" that he said effectively "accuse the Jews themselves of the most awful crimes in history", perpetrated against themselves.
Moscow has frequently repeated that it aims to "demilitarise" and "denazify" Ukraine, justifying the "special military operation" it launched on 24 February.
On Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry charged "the Jewish origins of the president (Zelensky) is not a guarantee of protection against rampant neo-Nazism in the country.
"Ukraine, may it be said in passing, is not the only one in this case," the Ministry said, citing Latvian President Egils Levits who "has also Jewish roots and he also gives cover... to the rehabilitation of the Waffen SS in his country."
