Jerusalem. May 5. INTERFAX - Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, during a telephone conversation, accepted the apologies of Russian President Vladimir Putin for the statements of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that displeased the Israeli leadership, Bennett's office tweeted.
"They discussed the statements of Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov. The Prime Minister accepted President Putin's apologies for Lavrov's remarks and thanked him for clarifying his position on the Jewish people and the memory of the Holocaust," the message reads.
Bennett also asked Putin to "consider different options for evacuation from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol."
"President Putin promised to allow the evacuation of civilians, including the wounded, through the UN humanitarian corridors and the Red Cross," Bennett's office notes.
Relations between Russia and Israel became complicated the other day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in an interview with the Italian TV company Mediaset, said that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky "puts forward an argument: what kind of Nazification can they (in Ukraine) have if he (Zelensky-IF) is a Jew." "I may be mistaken, but Hitler also had Jewish blood. It means absolutely nothing. The wise Jewish people say that the most ardent anti-Semites are usually Jews. "The family is not without a freak," as we say," Lavrov said.
On May 2, the Israeli Foreign Ministry invited Russian Ambassador Anatoly Viktorov in connection with Lavrov's recent statements about the possible presence of Jewish roots in Adolf Hitler. According to The Jerusalem Post, "Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called Lavrov's statements inexcusable and outrageous." "Jews did not destroy themselves during the Holocaust. Accusing Jews of anti-Semitism is a blatant level of racism against Jews," Lapid said.
Against this background, it became known that the Israeli authorities are discussing a possible increase in aid supplies to Ukraine, including including defensive systems. "During the discussions on this issue, most officials support the option in which Israel increases the volume of military and civilian cargo for Ukraine. Additional discussions are expected in the coming days, during which they will consider a list of things that can be sent to Ukraine," Haaretz newspaper reported on May 3.
