Sanjay Raut, the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, has responded to a letter from the Israel Embassy regarding his “anti-semitic” post on social media. The post was made during Israel’s ground operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Raut stated that he shared the post a long time ago and did not intend to harm Israel. The Israeli embassy sent the letter after there was a public outcry over Raut’s post, which was seen as justifying the Holocaust.
In an interview with ANI, Raut explained that although he made a reference to Hitler in his post, he did not mean to hurt Israel. He claimed that he had condemned Hamas’ attacks in southern Israel while also criticizing the Israeli response. Raut argued that both sides had committed inhumane acts, including the targeting of children, and he believed that children should not be victims of war.
Raut suggested that someone must have prompted the Israeli Embassy to oppose his post. The embassy had written a strongly-worded letter expressing disappointment and dismay to the External Affairs Ministry and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
In his now-deleted post on social media platform X, Raut stated in Hindi that he understood why Hitler hated the Jews. The post received backlash, which led to its removal. The recent conflict between Israel and Hamas began on October 7 when over 2,000 Hamas operatives breached Israel’s borders and carried out coordinated attacks, resulting in the deaths of over 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
In response, Israel launched a counter-offensive targeting Hamas units in the Gaza Strip. However, the Israeli air assault and ground operations have faced criticism from rights groups and the Arab world due to the high number of civilian casualties. According to the Hamas-run ministry in Gaza, over 14,000 people, including more than 5,000 children, have died during the ongoing Israeli offensive.
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