Israel has demanded an apology from Russia after Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, claimed Adolf Hitler had Jewish origins, on Sunday.

According to Reuters, the Israeli foreign ministry lambasted Lavrov for the comments on Monday, demanding an apology.

“Such lies are intended to accuse the Jews themselves of the most horrific crimes in history that were committed against them,” said Naftali Bennett, Israeli Prime Minister, in a statement.

“The use of the Holocaust of the Jewish people for political purposes must stop immediately.”

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, also accused Russia of being silent since Lavrov’s comments.

“This means that the Russian leadership has forgotten all the lessons of World War Two,” Zelensky said in a video on Monday.

“Or perhaps they have never learned those lessons.”

Lavrov had earlier been asked why Russia said it needed to ‘denazify’ Ukraine if Zelensky, the country’s president, was himself Jewish. In response, the minister had said Hitler had Jewish origins too.

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“When they say ‘What sort of nazification is this if we are Jews’, well I think that Hitler also had Jewish origins, so it means nothing,” Lavrov told Rete 4 channel, while speaking through an Italian interpreter.

Leaders from several Western nations also denounced the foreign minister’s comments.