Russian Ambassador to Israel Anatoly Viktorov was shouted at by members of the Knesset while he attended a parliamentary event commemorating Victory Day. He then left due to what the embassy said was a scheduling commitment but which local media described as him “storming out” in response to the disrespect that his country was shown on this solemn day. That’s because some parliamentarians hijacked the event by ranting about Russia’s ongoing special military operation in Ukraine.

This scandalous incident comes shortly after President Putin spoke to Prime Minister Bennett earlier in the month after Israel artificially manufactured an ultimately counterproductive scandal over Foreign Minister Lavrov’s legitimately anti–fascist remarks during a recent interview. Observers expected that while their ties have certainly cooled since the onset of the Ukrainian Conflict, their leaders’ phone call will help stabilize them and at least prevent their further deterioration.

The ranting Knesset members, however, seem obsessed with further ruining Russian-Israeli relations that took so many years of hard work by President Putin to get to the strategic level that they’re presently at in spite of their disagreements over Ukraine. To be sure, they have the right to express disapproval of that campaign but it was wrong for them to hijack an event dedicated to the victims of World War II in order to do so and shout at the Russian Ambassador who was their state’s guest.

That just goes to show that there exists a powerful lobbying force within Israel dedicated to ruining relations with Russia even if they have to go as far as disrespecting the victims of World War II, including those fellow Jews who were exterminated by the Holocaust that only ended because of the Red Army. This makes those ranting Knesset members’ actions very shameful, which is why they should be condemned by all decent people.

The larger trend on display is that the US-led West’s infowar against Russia is literally radicalizing its target’s opponents across the world. It would have been unthinkable last year to imagine Knesset members ruining such a solemn occasion as Victory Day, yet that’s precisely what happened due to how radicalized they’ve become because of the Ukrainian Conflict. Their political cause of defaming Russia is now apparently more important than their humanitarian one of honoring Holocaust victims.

This is a very disturbing development that must urgently be arrested by all responsible governments across the world, though practically none in the US-led West are expected to do so since that outcome is precisely what they’re aiming to achieve. Israel, however, has a solemn duty to ensure that Holocaust victims are always respected so hopefully its leadership privately talks to those ranting Knesset members to make them aware of why it was so unacceptable to spoil that practically holy event.