Ben Caspit speaks this week with Dani Dayan, the chairman of Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov caused a diplomatic incident with Israel, Ukraine and the Jewish world last week when he claimed that Hitler had Jewish roots. For Dayan, the conspiracy theory advanced by Lavrov was antisemitic by any account. The Yad Vashem head expresses his satisfaction over the reported apology made by Russian President Vladimir Putin for Lavrov’s words. Still, he regrets that the apology was not included in the readout published by the Kremlin after Putin’s talks with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. "What Lavrov said is what we call an inversion of the Holocaust. The victims suddenly become part, and even the head, of the perpetrators. And this is classic antisemitism."

Links:

-Russian-Israeli tensions escalate over Ukraine, Holocaust - Al-Monitor

-Putin apologized for Russia Hitler claims: Israel PM's office - Al-Monitor

-Israeli, Russian foreign ministers discuss key regional issues via phone - Al-Monitor

-Netanyahu’s friendship with Putin benefits Israel, but has limits - Al-Monitor