Zelenskiy’s comparison of the Ukrainian situation to the Holocaust in his speech to the Israeli parliament, Knesst, provoked a backlash in Israel.
Ukrainian President Wolodimir Zelenskiy’s video conference at the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, compared the situation of Ukrainians to the Holocaust, which has become the target of criticism in Israel. The main topic of Zelenskiy’s speech was the request for weapons assistance, but the most historical comparisons he made in the country were discussed.
In his speech, Zelenskiy called on Knesset lawmakers to criticize Israel and send them a racket defense system called the “Iron Dome”. Zelenskiy also criticized Israel’s refusal to participate in economic sanctions against Russia and its acceptance of a small number of Ukrainian migrants to its country, saying, “You have to live with these answers.”
Zelenskiy stated that the Russian government used the same language as the Nazis who once planned a massacre against Jews against Ukraine, in statements that led to criticism arrows in Israel. Listen to what they’re saying in Moscow now. How do they repeat those words? Last Resort! But this time by referring to us, by referring to the Ukraine problem,” he said.
Zelenski noted that the Russian attack, which began on February 24th, coincided with hitler’s 102 years ago, when the NSDAP’s party program was announced, and said, “We live in different countries under different conditions. But the threat we face is the same.” The Nazis massacred millions of people, Zelinskiy said, while the Russians killed thousands in a matter of weeks and attacked the Babyn Jar memorial.
Zelenskiy, who is also Jewish, was the target of criticism after this comparative speech. “The holocaust comparison is ridiculous and disturbing,” said Bazalel Smotrich, a representative of the Religious Sionist Party. Smotrich Zelenskiy’s claim that Ukrainians deliberately saved Jews in World War II was also a distortion of history, he said, adding that Zelenskiy ignored the role of Ukrainians in the exertion of Jews.
A statement by the Yad Vashem administration of the Holocaust Memorial condemned zelenskiy’s unnamed “simplistic and distortion of the Holocaust.” Israeli Communications Minister Joav Hendel said on Twitter that he supported Zelenskiy and the Ukrainian people, but that “the history of the Terrible Holocaust cannot be distorted.”
“The comparison to the Holocaust was wrong. But if a man is fighting with his bare hands against a nuclear superpower that attacks him, he should not be condemned for making a mistake. He did what we would do: he wanted to wake and shock the listeners at all costs.”
