Israel reprimands Belarusian ambassador over Lukashenko's antisemitic remarks
The Foreign Ministry said President Aleksandr Lukashenko invoked a "Jewish lobby" and distorted the memory of the Holocaust in an Al Arabiya interview
At the direction of Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, the ministry’s Director General, Eden Bar Tal, summoned Belarusian Ambassador to Israel Yuri Yaroshevich for an urgent reprimand. The move came in protest to remarks made by Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko in an interview with Saudi state news Al-Arabiya.
According to the ministry, Bar Tal said Israel "strongly rejects the comparison between the horrors of the Holocaust," which he noted also took place on Belarusian soil, "and Israel's just war against jihadist terrorism." He also said Israel, "strongly condemns the vile anti-Semitic conspiracies about the 'Jewish lobby,'" calling it "despicable language that must be banished from the world."
Separately on X, the ministry stated that the "revival of vile, outdated antisemitic conspiracies" was "equally appalling."
https://x.com/i/web/status/2066862756096065731
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In the roughly 90-minute interview, conducted by Al Arabiya, Lukashenko said the United States could pressure Israel to halt its "aggression," in Lebanon. He pointed to a public disagreement between US President Donald Trump and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu over strikes on Lebanon, saying it "demonstrated Israel's complete dependence on the United States" and that without American missiles, Israel's "so-called dome" would "be pierced."
Lukashenko also said the "Israeli lobby in the United States is very powerful," adding, "Rich, powerful people, they have a sway." He blames this 'lobby' as being the reason behind Ukraine's military support against Russia and Putin, who the Belarusian president claimed wanted peace. On the war in Gaza, he said Israel had "earned themselves such a reputation in the international community," and said "Why do we speak about the Holocaust suffered by the Israelis while they themselves have killed so many people?"
Lukashenko told Al Arabiya that the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East could be ended this year if a "few people" had the will to do so and said there was "no military solution" to either conflict.
Regarding Iran's nuclear program, Lukashenko said he opposes nuclear proliferation but argued Iran was "fully entitled" to pursue nuclear weapons on grounds of fairness, given that Israel, India, and Pakistan already possess them.