Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has great sympathy for the Jewish people. Bennett shared his memories of meetings with Putin in 2021-2022 during an interview with host Hanoch Daum.

Bennett said that during the meeting in Sochi, which lasted almost five hours, he and the head of the Russian state raised many issues, including the mutual interests of the Russian Federation and Israel.

“He let me know that he is very pro-Semitic, that he loves the Jews. He was actually raised by Jewish neighbors,” the politician said.

The ex-Prime Minister of Israel also recalled that Putin's school teacher had lived in Israel for many years.

Mina Moiseevna Yuditskaya, who taught German at the 281st secondary school in Leningrad to Putin, moved to Israel in 1973. Yuditskaya died in 2017 at the age of 97.

Also, Naftali Bennet called a sharp mind and a sense of humor the main qualities of Vladimir Putin.