Volodymyr Zelenskyy's harsh criticism of Israel and his historical comparisons in a speech to members of the Knesset have provoked strong opposition in the country.

The Ukrainian President addressed parliamentarians and the government in a live video address on Sunday evening.

In it, he castigated Israel for its refusal to provide Ukraine with weapons, such as the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system, to resist the Russian invasion.

Christian Meier

Political correspondent for the Middle East and Northeast Africa.

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He also criticized the fact that Israel has not yet joined the sanctions against Russia and only accepts a limited number of Ukrainian refugees.

This is the decision of the Israeli people, said Zelenskyj, but "you then have to live with your answer".

Zelenskyy claimed in this context that the Russian leadership used the same language towards Ukraine as the Nazis did when they planned the genocide of the Jews.

"You remember well the 'final solution' of the Jewish question," he said, addressing the Israeli audience.

“Listen to what is being said in Moscow now, hear them saying those words again: 'Final Solution'.

But this time in relation to us, to the Ukrainian question.”

Zelenskyy also pointed out that the beginning of the Russian attack took place on February 24, exactly 102 years after Hitler presented the party program of the NSDAP.

"We live in different countries and under completely different circumstances, but the threat we face is one and the same," Zelenskyy said.

The Nazis killed millions of people, but Russia killed thousands in a matter of weeks and also attacked places like the Babyn Yar memorial.

Even the ambassador triggered criticism

That evening, politicians and commentators in Israel dismissed the parallels drawn by the Ukrainian president, who is himself a Jew.

Bezalel Smotrich from the "Religious Zionist Party" spoke of an "outrageous and ridiculous comparison with the Holocaust".

The right-wing politician also criticized Zelenskyy's statement that the Ukrainian people made a conscious decision to save Jews during World War II.

This is historical revisionism, criticized Smotrich, which suppressed the role played by the Ukrainians in the extermination of the Jews.

The Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem said - without naming Zelenskyj - that it condemned the "trivialization and distortion of the historical facts of the Holocaust".

Communications Minister Joav Hendel of the centre-right New Hope party wrote on Twitter that he supports Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people, but "the terrible history of the Holocaust must not be rewritten".

At the beginning of March, the Ukrainian ambassador to Israel, Yevhen Korniychuk, sparked criticism when he blanketly claimed that the Ukrainians had rescued Jews during World War II.

In Israel, many then pointed to the role of Ukrainian collaborators and nationalist militias in the genocide of the Jews.

Transferred to the big screen

After Zelenskyi's speech, other politicians and commentators besides Communications Minister Hendel expressed understanding for his attempt to shake up the Israelis, while dismissing the historical statements.

In the Maariv newspaper, journalist Ben Caspit commented that Zelenskyy's comparison with the Holocaust was wrong.

But "when a man fights with his bare hands against a nuclear superpower that has brutally attacked him, he should not be blamed for making mistakes.

He did what we would have done in the same situation: he tried at all costs to rouse and shock his audience.”

Later Zelenskyj seemed to be trying to smooth things over.

In a video released a few hours after his speech, he thanked Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for his attempts at mediation.

At the same time, he expressed understanding for Israel's situation, which does not want to jeopardize its good relations with the Kremlin.

"Israel has its interests, its strategy for defending its citizens, we all understand that," he wrote.

Bennett, on the other hand, called the considerations that Israel must make in connection with its positioning in the war "complex" during an appearance on Monday morning.

The prime minister later told the Israeli news site Ynet that Zelenskyy "shouldn't compare anything to the Holocaust."

Zelenskyy's speech - one of several by the Ukrainian president before Western parliaments since the beginning of the war - was preceded by weeks of back and forth between the Ukrainian and Israeli sides over the scope of the speech.

Speaker of Parliament Mickey Levy drew criticism when he rejected Zelenskyy's request to address the assembled Knesset via video link.

Levy's reasoning - it was a non-session and the plenary chamber was being renovated - was unconvincing.

Shortly thereafter, Yad Vashem also refused to broadcast a speech by the Ukrainian president on the Holocaust memorial site.

Yad Vashem leadership was concerned that such an event would draw comparisons between the Holocaust and the war in Ukraine.

Finally, the Ukrainian side agreed to the Knesset Speaker's proposal to deliver a speech via zoom, which MPs and members of the government can join.

Most of the 120 members of Parliament did so on Sunday evening.

At the same time, Zelenskyj's speech on the central Habima Square in Tel Aviv was broadcast on a large screen, hundreds of people were present.

According to the Israeli parliament, several attempts by hackers to disrupt the broadcast of the speech were stopped.