I read the Kremlin's readout of the phone call and there's no mention:
Russian President warmly congratulated Naftali Bennett and the Israeli people celebrating today's national holiday, Independence Day. Mutual interest was expressed in the further development of friendly Russian-Israeli relations and maintaining useful contacts between the leadership of the two countries.
A thorough exchange of views on the situation in Ukraine continued. Particular attention was paid to humanitarian aspects, including the evacuation of civilians held by militants of nationalist formations from the territory of the Azovstal plant in cooperation with representatives of the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross. As for the remaining militants at Azovstal, the Kiev authorities should order them to lay down their arms.
On the eve of Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War, which is celebrated both in Russia and in Israel on May 9, Vladimir Putin and Naftali Bennett stressed the special importance of this date for the peoples of both countries, who cherish the historical truth about the events of those years and honor the memory of all the fallen, including the victims of the Holocaust. The President of Russia recalled that of the six million Jews tortured in ghettos and concentration camps killed by the Nazis during punitive operations, 40 percent were citizens of the USSR, and asked to convey wishes of health and well-being to veterans living in Israel. Naftali Bennett, in turn, noted the decisive contribution of the Red Army to the Victory over Nazism.
He continues:
Furthermore, as b reviewed in his outstanding article yesterday, Putin has nothing whatsoever to apologize for. Lavrov stated a fact. If the Zionists can't accept their own past, then they should quit Palestine for all time. RT shouldn't have reproduced Occupied Palestine's BigLie. That it did is a reflection on its CEO and her very close to Anti-Russian editorial POV. [Que?]
He got Bennet to acknowledge the critical role of the Red army exactly when this acknowlegement of history is most critically needed. And from a western mouth. It sends a clear message.
It seems like a fair deal: Putin acknowledges the 6 million and Bennet acknowledges the 27 million. >4:1 leverage! In finance, that would be considered pretty good leverage. What’s not to like?
Yes, Moon of Alabama dissects the whole history. But it was a second hand analysis that gives only a single theory: Has anyone sequenced Hitler’s genome or that of Patrick Hitler etc? If Hitler’s ancestry was fully established it would not be an ongoing point of debate. The fact is that it has not been fully established as far as I am aware - you can find several theories on Hitler’s paternal grandfather. Therefore I think it is provocative to regard it as confirmed. I think it is also provocative to imply that jews can be nazis. They can be nazi sympathizers for sure, if they are very rightwing like netanhayoo’s son, or Zelensky. But to be actual nazis would they not have to be at the same time Aryan?
So I think Putin struck a pretty good deal, for this round, all-in-all.
Well put. Meanwhile what I find puzzling that Lavrov made that comment at all. Perhaps this clarifies:
The Russians are very dissatisfied with Israel over its past military cooperation with Ukraine, and Lavrov’s statement was only the opening round. If we go back to the very first days of Russia’s ‘special military operation,’ when they took control of the Zaporozhye nuclear power station and seized there documents relating to Ukraine’s efforts to build a ‘dirty nuclear weapon,’ the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that there were foreign enablers active there. Then the next day, unexpectedly and in great haste, Israeli Prime Minister Bennett flew to Moscow for unscheduled talks with Putin. Almost nothing was disclosed about the subject of their talks. But subsequently the foreign enablers were never identified by the Russians.
on May 6, 2022, 2:04 am