Wiesenthal Center Calls for Sanctions Against Lithuanian Member of Parliament Who Blamed Local and Israeli Jews for Anti-Semitism

May 15, 2023

JERUSALEM – The Simon Wiesenthal Center today called upon the Lithuanian authorities to take disciplinary measures against MP Remigijus Zemaitaitis of the Order and Justice Party after, according to Times of Israel, on Facebook, he accused local Jews of responsibility for anti-Semitism and alleged Communist sympathies.

Last week the MP criticized the demolition of an EU-funded school for Palestinian children in Samaria, which did have the necessary building permits and the support expressed by local Jews for that step, comparing it to the war crimes being committed in Ukraine by the Russians.

To add insult to injury, Zemaitaitis ended his post by accusing Jews of responsibility for anti-Semitism, quoting a well-known Lithuanian anti-Semite nursery rhyme "A Jew was climbing a ladder and accidentally fell. Children take a stick and kill that Jew."

SWC Director for Eastern European Affairs and Holocaust historian, Dr. Efraim Zuroff, blamed Lithuanian's refusal, since it regained independence in 1990, to admit the highly significant extent of the participation of Lithuanian Nazi collaborators on Holocaust crimes for such accusations. "Had successive Lithuanian governments honestly confronted their Holocaust crimes, local lawmakers would never dare to publically make such disgusting accusations."

For additional information please contact the Israel Office of the Wiesenthal Center: Tel: 972-2-563-1274 or Tel: 972-50-721-4156, follow the Center on Facebook, or @simonwiesenthal and @EZuroff for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed.