Israeli PM refuses to compare Ukraine war to Holocaust

JERUSALEM

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday refused to compare the current war in Ukraine to what happened to the Jews at the hands of the German Nazi regime, which came to be known as the Holocaust.

"I personally believe that you cannot compare the Holocaust to anything," Bennett told Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth. “It is a unique event in the history of the world, the industrial killing of a nation in gas chambers.”

During Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's speech to the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) on Sunday, he referred to the Russian war on his country as a "Holocaust."

Meanwhile, Bennett said despite achieving some breakthroughs between Moscow and Kyiv, gabs are still big between the two countries.

Bennett pledged to continue his efforts to put an end to the ongoing war, where he said Israel's mediation efforts are taking place with full coordination with the US administration and the European countries.

According to UN estimates, at least 902 civilians have been killed and around 1,459 injured in Ukraine since Russia launched its war on its western neighbor on Feb. 24.

The UN has said the real figures are likely to be much higher as conditions on the ground make verification difficult.

UN data shows over 3.38 million refugees have fled from Ukraine since the war began, while some 6.5 million are estimated to be internally displaced in the country.

Writing by Ahmed Asmar