President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that “Jews succeeded in having the whole world bow down to them” in a speech marking Belarusian Independence Day over the weekend, Kan News reported. The day marks the liberation of the Belarusian capital Minsk in 1944 from the Nazi occupation.

“Jews succeeded in making the whole world bow to them and no one today would dare to raise a voice and deny the Holocaust,” Lukashenko said. “In contrast, the Belarusians, who are a tolerant nation, allowed people to spit in their faces.”

Lukashenko continued by saying that the Nazis wrought a “Holocaust of the Belarusian people” during World War II.

נשיא בלארוס לוקשנקו נאם ביום העצמאות של מדינתו: "היהודים הצליחו לגרום לכל העולם להתרפס בפניהם ואיש היום לא יעז להרים קול ולהכחיש את קיומה של השואה. לעומת זאת, הבלארוסים, אומה סובלנית, איפשרו לירוק בפרצופם". השבוע שלח הנשיא ריבלין איחולים ללוקשנקו לרגל יום העצמאות@Yoav__Zehavi pic.twitter.com/HIeS3txF2X

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) July 5, 2021

Franak Viačorka, a senior adviser to Belarussian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who fled Belarus last year, told Kan in response to the report: “Lukashenko is demonstrating his offensiveness, pathological lies, and blatant anti-Semitism. This man is trying to cultivate in Belarus all the evil that the world is fighting against.”

A furor arose on Israeli social media earlier this week in light of a report that President Reuven Rivlin sent a letter of congratulations marking the day to his Belasurian counterpart despite the fact that Lukashenko is widely viewed as a dictator who regularly violates human rights.

A statement from Rivlin’s office said in response that the letter was in accordance with Foreign Ministry protocol regarding all counties with which Israel maintains diplomatic ties.

Kan said that Israel is one of the only Western countries to send a letter of congratulations to Lukashenko.

“Belarus has received greetings from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Pope Francis, the leaders of Russia, China, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, the UK, Serbia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Israel, Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Iran, Syria, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Algeria, Kenya, Nicaragua, Morocco, Uganda, Ethiopia, Palestine, and the Order of Malta,” Kan stated.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)