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Middle East conflict

Lavrov criticizes attack on Israel, also condemns Israeli statements about Palestinians

"I will now say it very frankly: The Israelis, the statements made by the defense minister, military commanders, a number of other ministers, they put it out there that the Palestinians are not people, that they are animals," the foreign minister stated

MOSCOW, January 18. /TASS/. Moscow regards the attack on a festival in Israel as heinous, but it also decries statements by Israeli ministers and military commanders about Palestinians, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at his annual news conference devoted to reviewing Moscow’s main foreign policy achievements in 2023.

"In the Gaza Strip, it was unacceptable to attack civilians, the festival attendees. Horrible footage, a brutal, heinous attack. We condemned it immediately, I will repeat it again," Lavrov said.

"I will now say it very frankly: The Israelis, the statements made by the defense minister, military commanders, a number of other ministers, they put it out there that the Palestinians are not people, that they are animals," the minister said. "It’s just like when [Arseny] Yatsenyuk said that Donbass is populated by monsters, when [Vladimir] Zelensky said that they are not people but creatures, when all these Yermaks, Kulebas, Podolyaks said that Russians should be physically exterminated. This is a terrible analogy."

Lavrov also said Israel should not think that, because of the horrors of World War II, it now can do anything it likes.

"Israelis should not even be given the impression that because they suffered in World War II, they are allowed to do anything today," he said.

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Foreign policy Sergey Lavrov

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