Lavrov 'Jewish' Hitler claim on Italian TV angers Israel

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 2 - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has angered Israel by telling Italy's Mediaset television on Sunday that the fact Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish does not mean he isn't a Nazi, saying Adolf Hitler himself had Jewish roots.
    Moscow has justified its invasion of Ukraine on the grounds that its neighbour must be "denazified".
    "Lies such as these mean to blame Jews for the horrible crimes committed against them throughout history and by doing so, remove responsibility from their enemies," said Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
    On Monday the Israeli foreign ministry summoned the Russian ambassador to Israel for a clarification on the comments.
    "Foreign Minister Lavrov's remarks are both an unforgivable and outrageous statement as well as a terrible historical error," said Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid.
    "Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust.
    "The lowest level of racism against Jews is to accuse Jews themselves of antisemitism." Dani Dayan, the president of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Centre in Jerusalem, was furious too.
    "The remarks of Russian FM Lavrov are absurd, dangerous and deserve condemnation," Dayan said via Twitter. "Lavrov is propagating the inversion of the Holocaust - turning the victims into the criminals on the basis of promoting a completely unfounded claim that Hitler was of Jewish descent.
    "Equally serious is calling the Ukrainians in general, and President Zelenskyy in particular, Nazis.
    "This, among other things, is a complete distortion of history and a serious affront to the victims of Nazism".
    Ruth Dureghello, the president of Rome's Jewish community, said Lavrov's comments were "nonsensical and dangerous" and said the most alarming thing was that they went unchallenged by the interviewer.
    Adolfo Urso, the president of Copasir, the Italian parliament's intelligence system oversight body, said an inquiry had been launched that would involve hearings with broadcasters and communications authority Agcom.
    "Lavrov's intervention has confirmed our concerns because of the way it took place and the mountain of fake news it piled up," Urso said. The row exploded amid controversy about a series of appearances on Italian TV by experts and journalists critical of Western support for Kyiv and calling for a soft stance with Moscow.
    Indeed, a European Commission spokesperson on Monday said that Italian broadcasters must be careful after two Russian journalists on the sanctions list were hosted on TV talk shows.
    "Hosting Russian journalists from media organs blocked by sanctions, such as Sputnik and Russia Today, must not circumvent EU sanctions against Russian propaganda on Ukraine," the spokesperson said.
    "It's not a question of censuring opinions, but it is important that their backgrounds are contextualized.
    "Furthermore, EU and member State broadcasters must not allow incitement of violence and hatred in the programmes". (ANSA).