Russian state TV says Jews brought Holocaust on themselves

A presenter on Russia's state TV, Evelyn Zakamskaya, said on air that the Jews helped bring the Holocaust on themselves, according to a blog post published on Sunday.

Zakamskaya was responding to a guest on the show, who said it was "strange" that Jewish organizations support Maidan (the Ukrainian protest movement). "They do not realize that they are, with their own hands, closer to the Holocaust?"

To that, Zakamskaya responded: "They also advanced the first [Holocaust.]"

Blogger John Aravosis from AMERICAblog confirmed the transcript of the show with Buzzfeed's Miriam Elder, who said it was "accurate, if incomplete."

President Vladimir Putin had actually decried rising anti-Semitism in Ukraine, saying in a press conference earlier this month that Moscow's "biggest concern" was "the rampage of reactionary forces, nationalist and anti-Semitic forces going on in certain parts of Ukraine, including Kiev.”  

However, Ira Forman, the Obama administration’s special envoy on anti-Semitism, disputed those claims, saying Putin’s assertions were not credible.

“We have no indication that what President Putin has been saying about anti-Semitism has been a true reflection of what’s happening on the ground,” he said.  Haaretz