"Someone must have asked them to...": Sanjay Raut responds to embassy letter over 'anti-semitic' post

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and MP Sanjay Raut clarified his stance on Saturday regarding his controversial 'Hitler' post on social media platform X, a day after the Israeli Embassy lodged a strong protest against India. Raut stated that he had no intention of hurting Israel and explained that he criticized the Gaza hospital attack similar to Hamas's attack against Israel.

In his statement to news agency ANI, Raut mentioned, "It's been a long time since that tweet. I removed that tweet. There was a reference to Hitler in that, but I had no intention to hurt Israel. The way Hamas attacked Israel, I criticized that attack. In the same way, when Gaza's hospitals were attacked, newborns and children were killed in large numbers... children should be kept out of the war."

He continued, "And I said that it was inhumanity, and maybe because you are not showing humanity, a leader must have opposed you during that time... After one month, Israel's High Commission has written a letter on that. Someone must have said to him, this is Sanjay Raut, oppose him."

On November 14, Sanjay Raut had reshared a report about the challenging situation in Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital, adding his own comments in Hindi. The comment roughly translated to "he now understands why Hitler hated Jews so much."

The report reshared by Raut depicted premature babies screaming at Al-Shifa Hospital following Israel's offensive. The report stated, "Premature babies are screaming in Al-Shifa hospital. The power to the incubator in which they were kept has been cut off by Israel. Armed forces have surrounded the hospital from all sides. No food items, milk, or water are allowed inside the hospital."

However, the Rajya Sabha MP deleted his tweet after facing severe backlash. In response, the Israeli Embassy expressed disappointment over Raut's "anti-Semitic" comments justifying the Holocaust against the Jewish community in a strongly-worded letter to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.