Samoan Prime Minister Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt apologized Monday after an old video emerged showing him performing a Nazi salute and leading a group in a “Heil Hitler" chant at a family gathering in 2007.

Laaulialemalietoa, who became prime minister of the Pacific island nation last year, said the remarks were made during a private family event on Savai’i, Samoa's largest island, when he was deputy speaker of Parliament.

“Whatever the context or intention at that gathering twenty years ago, I recognise that those words and gesture were inappropriate and capable of causing offence and hurt and I apologize for using them," he said in a statement released by the government and quoted by CNN.

The seven-second recording, first reported Sunday by the Samoa Observer, shows Laaulialemalietoa standing before about a dozen people and saying, “Raise your right hand, Heil Hitler," as those present repeat the words while making the Nazi-affiliated gesture.

The Prime Minister said the conduct shown in the footage does not represent his personal views or those of Samoa's government or population. “I reject Nazism, antisemitism, racism and all forms of political extremism," he said, adding that he now considers “this matter addressed."

Samoa is home to approximately 221,000 people and is located in the South Pacific, west of American Samoa and near Fiji. Germany colonized the territory in the early 20th century before New Zealand took control of what was then known as Western Samoa in 1914. Samoa became independent in 1962. German heritage and surnames remain present among some Samoans.

The resurfaced video has drawn particular attention because of Laaulialemalietoa's strong support for Israel.

Ynet reported that when he was sworn in as prime minister in September 2025, he wore a tallit during a ceremony that also featured the blowing of a shofar. “Samoa will not retreat from its support for Israel as the nation of God’s people," he said afterward, according to local media reports.

In January, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced that Samoa plans to open an embassy in Jerusalem in 2026.

The move would place Samoa among the countries maintaining diplomatic representations in Israel's capital, including the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay and Fiji.

The United States opened its embassy in Jerusalem in 2018 under President Donald Trump; Paraguay opened an embassy that year, withdrew it, and reopened it in December 2024.