Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut said his Hitler tweet which he deleted was not to hurt Israel but the letter from the Israel Embassy a month after the tweet proved that the embassy might have been prompted by someone. The Israel Embassy wrote the external affairs ministry and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla expressing their disappointment over Sanjay Raut’s “anti-Semitic” tweet. After Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital came under attack, Sanjay Raut wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he realised why Hitler used to hate the Jews so much.

“It’s been a long time since I shared that post on X. I have since deleted that post. I did make a reference to Hitler in my post but had no intention to hurt Israel. I did criticise and condemn the way Hamas attacked southern Israel and took innocent lives. At the same breath, however, I also condemned the way Gaza hospitals were attacked, killing newborns and children, and their essential supplies blocked. I believe children shouldn’t be targeted during a war,” Sanjay Raut said.

“It was only after a month that Israel’s High Commission in India wrote to me over the post. I feel someone may have prompted them to write to me,” Raut said.

The post was made on October 14, seven days after Hamas attacked Israel. As the post drew flak, Sanjay Raut deleted the post. The tweet was seen as a support to the Holocaust.

Sanjay Raut said he had also condemned Hamas’s attack on Israel and his Hitler tweet was not to hurt Israel but to criticise the inhumane thing that happened in Gaza.

The Israel embassy thanked India for India’s stance on the October 7 attack. India condemned the terror attack but asserted its belief in the two-state solution of the Israel-Palestine issue.