Zelensky is the comedian; Lavrov the joke!

How far will Russia go to justify the unjustifiable? The claim the Ukraine is in need of de-Nazification, has been presented as the main reason why Russia invaded a sovereign nation, to cleanse it of a barbaric ideology. The fact President Zelensky is Jewish and is highly unlikely to head and support a Jew-hating philosophy does not seem to have made Putin and Lavrov query their thinking; but, of course, this has nothing to do with rationality, but everything to do with twisted reasoning to some how redeem blatant aggression. 

This perverted logic has been given further impetus by Lavrov by asserting Hitler’s had a Jewish grandfather, a claim contested by respected historians of the Twentieth Century, and even if the German Führer had one grandparent who was Jewish, that does not make Hitler halachically Jewish, so much for the poor education of Putin and his henchmen! Israel has rightly condemned this outrageous  claim by Lavrov, but even more insulting to World Jewry is the accusation by the Russian Foreign Minister that the worst anti-Semites are Jews. Yes, it is true some Jews have distanced themselves from their people and made derogatory remarks about Judaism, but there is a vast difference between criticising one’s own tradition and murdering six million Jews. Does Putin and Lavrov suppose these Ill-chosen comments will win Russia friends? Certainly the anti-Semites,  around the world,  will be delighted to hear the “profound” statement by Lavrov, but the majority of people will not be deflected by the reality: Russia has invaded the Ukraine and destroyed cities and, from the evidence available, committed war crimes.

Naftali Bennett may have tried to act as mediator, peacemaker, when he went to talk to Putin, but now he should have no illusions as to what the Russian leadership represents, and throw his weight behind the condemnation of Russian aggression.