Jerusalem - A senior member of Israel's
government welcomed on Wednesday White House spokesperson Sean
Spicer's apology for saying Adolf Hitler did not use chemical
weapons, comments that overlooked the killing of millions of
Jews in Nazi gas chambers.
"Since he apologised and retracted his remarks, as far as
(I) am concerned, the matter is over," Intelligence and
Transport Minister Israel Katz said in a statement, citing the
"tremendous importance of historical truth and remembrance" of
the victims of the Holocaust.
Spicer made the assertion at a daily news briefing, during a
discussion about the April 4 chemical weapons attack in Syria
that killed 87 people. Washington has blamed the attack on the
government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
"You had someone as despicable as Hitler who didn't even
sink to using chemical weapons," Spicer said when asked about
Russia's alliance with the Syrian government.
The Nazis murdered six million Jews during World War Two.
Many Jews as well as others were killed in gas chambers in
European concentration camps.
When a reporter asked Spicer if he wanted to clarify his
comments, he said: "I think when you come to sarin gas, there
was no, he was not using the gas on his own people the same way
that Assad is doing."
Later on Tuesday, Spicer apologised and said he should not
have made that comparison.
"It was a mistake. I shouldn't have done it and I won't do
it again," Spicer told CNN in an interview. "It was
inappropriate and insensitive."
Spicer's assertion, made during the Jewish holiday of
Passover, sparked instant outrage on social media and from some
Holocaust memorial groups who accused him of minimising Hitler's
crimes.
Katz, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party,
had tweeted late on Tuesday that Spicer's comments at the news
briefing were "grave and outrageous", and he said the White
House spokesman should apologise or resign.
There was no immediate comment from other Israeli leaders,
during a Passover holiday period when government business is
largely at a standstill and many in the country are on vacation.
It was not the first time the White House has had to answer
questions about the Holocaust. Critics in January noted the
administration's statement marking International Holocaust
Remembrance Day, which omitted any mention of Jewish victims.
At the time, Spicer defended that statement by saying it had
been written in part by a Jewish staff member whose family
members had survived the Holocaust.
Despite these difficulties, relations between Trump
administration and the Israeli government have been more cordial
than under the Obama presidency, although differences remain
over the scope of Israeli settlement-building.