Responding to a letter by the Israel Embassy over his ‘anti-semitic’ post, amid the ongoing ground operations against terror Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday said he shared the post long back and did not intend to hurt Israel.
The letter from the Israeli embassy came close on the heels of an uproar over Raut’s post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), which allegedly justified the Holocaust.
Speaking to ANI on Saturday, Raut said, “It’s been a long time since I shared that post on X. I have since deleted that post. I did make a reference to Hitler in my post but had no intention to hurt Israel.”
The Rajya Sabha MP claimed that he had condemned the October 7 attacks by Hamas in southern Israel while also being critical of the Israeli reprisal.
“I did criticise and condemn the way Hamas attacked southern Israel and took innocent lives. At the same breath, however, I also condemned the way Gaza hospitals were attacked, killing newborns and children, and their essential supplies blocked. I believe children shouldn’t be targeted during a war,” Raut said.
“I said what was happening was inhumane. I did say as well that it is because of the lack of humanity that they are demonstrating now that a leader back in the day (Hitler) opposed you,” the Sena (UBT) MLA said.
He claimed that the Israeli Embassy must have been prompted by “someone” to “oppose” his post.
“It was only after a month that Israel’s High Commission in India wrote to me over the post. I feel someone may have prompted them to write to me,” he claimed.
The Israeli Embassy wrote a strongly-worded letter to the External Affairs Ministry and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla expressing disappointment and dismay over Raut’s post.
Raut posted on X in Hindi that he understood “why Hitler hated the Jews so much”.
In the face of the backlash, however, Raut deleted his post.
During the holocaust, over 6 million Jews across German-occupied Europe were killed by the Nazis led by Hitler.
On October 7, over 2000 Hamas terrorists breached Israeli borders and unleashed coordinated attacks, killing more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
In response, Israel has launched a fierce counter-offensive, targeting Hamas units in the Gaza Strip.
However, the Israeli air assault and ground operations drew frowns from rights groups and the Arab world over the mounting civilian death toll.
According to the Hamas-run ministry in Gaza, over 14,000 people, including over 5,000 children, have perished in Gaza amid the ongoing Israeli offensive.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)