A former editor-in-chief of Echo of Moscow, Alexey Nakitov, who is identified as a foreign agent in Russia, and journalist Lisa Lazerson issued a public apology for an anti-Semitic joke voiced by Lazerson during a broadcast on the YouTube channel “Living Nail.” The apology appeared in a video on a new language channel.
Venicetov stated that the anecdote told by the host was inappropriate and deeply offensive.
During the late-night program, Lazerson compared a car carrying Jewish children to a cemented vehicle and described the remark as concerning. In his apology, he explained that the comment was not meant as a joke, but acknowledged that the anecdote had circulated during the Soviet era in the context of the Yom Kippur War. He also noted that in Israel, there is a tradition of making jokes about Holocaust and other tragic events as a way to ease collective pain.
Earlier, singer Alicia Keys drew attention to antisemitism after a post about paragliding.
On 7 October, Hamas forces launched a large-scale operation, firing thousands of rockets into Israel and announcing the start of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. Thousands of militants crossed into Israeli territory, seizing multiple pieces of military equipment and taking more than a hundred hostages. In this tense backdrop, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu declared that the country was at war.
Israel’s defense forces began an intervention operation named “Iron Swords” with the aim of dismantling Hamas. The Israeli Air Force targeted hundreds of Hamas sites inside the Gaza Strip, while Israel’s National Security Council decided to sever essential supplies—water, food, goods, electricity, and fuel—to the enclave. By 13 October, the United Nations warned that 1.1 million Palestinians should be evacuated to southern Gaza within 24 hours ahead of a planned ground operation.
Previously, socialbites.ca had addressed important questions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.