Vilnius, Lithuania
Vilnius, LithuaniaiStock

A Lithuanian politician’s post criticizing Israel has been denounced as antisemitic by several ambassadors, with the MP being investigated for possible hate speech, LRT reported.

Remigijus Žemaitaitis of the center-right Freedom and Justice Party posted an anti-Israel comment to Facebook on Sunday that said: “It turns out that we have other animals in the world besides Putin, and it’s ISRAEL. One is destroying schools with tanks, and the other one is using tractors.”

He also referred to Israel demolishing a Palestinian Arab school built illegally on state lands as “increas[ing] the anger and, at the same time, the hatred towards Jews and their nation.” According to the news outlet, he added to his post in Lithuanian an antisemitic poem that translates into English reads: “A Jew was climbing a ladder and accidentally fell off. Take a stick, kids, and kill that little Jew.”

“After such events [Israel demolishing a Palestinian school], no wonder that there appear sayings like this,” Žemaitaitis also wrote.

The MP's post was denounced by Israel’s Ambassador to Lithuania Hadas Wittenberg Silverstein in a statement. Žemaitaitis’s comments “legitimize antisemitic attitudes and the crackdown on Jews," Wittenberg Silverstein said.

“While we respect the freedom of expression, we stress that criticism of Israel’s actions and policies is one thing, but clearly antisemitic comments are a total different matter,” she added.

Lithuania’s US Ambassador Robert Gilchrist echoes Wittenberg Silverstein’s denunciation.

“I was deeply troubled to learn of comments made by a member of the Seimas justifying antisemitism,” he said. “There is space for expressing opposition to other governments’ policies and actions. Antisemitism and bigotry, however, should never be rationalized.”

Lithuania’s German Ambassador Matthias Sonn also denounced the post as “rabidly and violently antisemitic” and expressed Germany’s “full solidarity with Lithuania’s Jewish community.”

“I can only join my Israeli colleague’s expression of dismay and add my personal disgust at such a revolting display of murderous hate speech. In particular, it needs to be stressed that this has absolutely nothing to do with one’s approval or otherwise of Israel’s policies or actions,” the ambassador said.

The Vilnius District Prosecutor’s Office announced on Tuesday that it has opened a pre-trial investigation into potential hate speech regarding Žemaitaitis’ post that “may contain forms of antisemitism and the spread of hatred.”

Žemaitaitis told BNS that he did not consider his comments hate speech and refused to delete them, claiming the Israeli government are “like communist Bolsheviks, destroying schools built in another state, another country with EU money.”