Enlarge this imageRu sian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a joint news conference following talks with his Armenian counterpart in Moscow on April 8.Alexander Zemlianichenki/POOL/AFP via Getty Imageshide captiontoggle captionAlexander Zemlianichenki/POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesRu sian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a joint news conference following talks with his Armenian counterpart in Moscow on April 8.Alexander Zemlianichenki/POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesIsraeli officials are castigating Ru sia and demanding an apology for comments its foreign minister made about Nazism over the weekend. It’s the strongest condemnation of Ru sia by Israel since the war in Ukraine began in February. It all started on Sunday days after Holocaust Remembrance Day when Ru sian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made antisemitic comments in an interview with Italian television program Zona Bianca.Ukraine invasion explained Putin’s claim of fighting against Ukraine ‘neo-Nazis’ distorts history, scholars say Lavrov was asked about Ru sia’s claim that it had invaded Ukraine to “denazify” the country, which has a democratically-elected Jewish president. “So when they Patrick Corbin Jersey say ‘How can Nazification exist if we’re Jewish?’ In my opinion, Hitler also had Jewish origins, so it doesn’t mean absolutely anything,” he told the station in Ru sian, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s religion, according to the A sociated Pre s. “For some time we have heard from the Jewish people that the biggest antisemites were Jewish.” The backlash was swift, with officials in both Israel and Ukraine slamming Lavrov’s remarks as deeply offensive and historically inaccurate. (Some people have speculated that Hitler’s unidentified paternal grandfather was Jewish, an unproven rumor that the Ketel Marte Jersey BBC explains was fueled by an a sertion in a 1953 memoir by Hitler’s lawyer, Hans Frank.)Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Yair Lapid, the son of a Holocaust survivor and the grandson of a Holocaust victim, called Lavrov’s remarks “unforgiveable” and “outrageous.” “Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust,” he wrote in a tweet. “The lowest level of racism against Jews is to accuse Jews themselves of antisemitism.”Ukraine invasion explained Holocaust museums in 4 countries condemn Ru sia’s actions in Ukraine as war crimesSimon Says Opinion: The failed promise of ‘never again’Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett released a statement on Monday calling for an immediate end to the use of the Holocaust “as a political battering ram,” according to the Jerusalem Post. “Lies like these are meant to blame the Jews themselves for the most terrible crimes in history, which were committed against them, and thus free the oppre sors of the Jews from their responsibility,” he added. Dani Dayan, the chairman Israel’s Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem, wrote on Twitter that Lavrov was “propagating the inversion of the Holocaust” by promoting an unfounded claim that turns its victims into criminals. To call Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian public in general Nazis is “a complete distortion of the history and a serious affront to the victims of Nazism,” he added.Ru sia has frequently invoked Nazism and World War II to justify its aggre sion in Ukraine, prompting criticism and charges of hyprocisy, especially as its forces have attacked Holocaust memorial sites and killed multiple Holocaust survivors in residential shelling.Israel’s quick and forceful condemnation of Lavrov’s comments are particularly notable because the country has been criticized for not doing enough to show its support for Ukraine.Ukraine invasion explained Holocaust museums in 4 countries condemn Ru sia’s actions in Ukraine as war crimes Bennett has Alex Avila Jersey largely avoiding criticizing Ru sia for its full-scale invasion. And while other officials have expre sed support for Ukraine, Israel has not sent military equipment or fully joined in the Western sanctions against Ru sia. As NPR has reported, Zelenskyy voiced his impatience in a March addre s before Israeli lawmakers in which he compared Ru sia’s invasion to the Holocaust and urged Israel to take stronger action, including sending weapons to Ukraine and accepting non-Jewish refugees fleeing the war. Lavrov’s comments also have drawn ire outside of Israel. The Anti-Defamation League condemned his “misuse of Nazis, Hitler and the Holocaust,” calling it Adam Jones Jersey part of his “transparently desperate efforts” to justify Ru sia’s war in Ukraine. A German government spokesperson said the idea Hitler had Jewish heritage was “absurd” propaganda, according to Reuters, while the country’s anti-Semitism commi sioner said the remarks “shamele sly confront not only Jews but the entire international public with open anti-Semitism.” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted that in addition to offending Zelenskyy, Ukraine, Israel and the Jewish people, Lavrov’s remarks “demonstrate that today’s Ru sia is full of hatred towards other nations.”This story originally appeared in the Morning Edition live blog.