Palestinian Authority President partially retracts “50 Holocausts” comment but faces investigation

The President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has partially revised comments that he made in which he accused Israel of committing “50 Holocausts”.

In a new statement released by the official Palestinian Authority news agency, Wafa, in which he walked back his earlier remarks, Mr Abbas, also known by his nom de guerre Abu Mazen, said that the Holocaust was “the most heinous crime in modern human history”.

However, this has apparently not prevented Mr Abbas from facing an investigation for possible incitement to hatred in relation to his comments. This is because it is a criminal offence to minimise the Holocaust in Germany.

This does not mean that Mr Abbas will face a full investigation, because he would be immune from prosecution because he was visiting Germany in an official capacity.

Speaking on stage alongside the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, while on a visit to Berlin, Mr Abbas refused to condemn the horrific attack by Arab terrorists at the Munich Olympics in 1972, when they murdered eleven Israeli athletes. The fiftieth anniversary of the attack is due to be commemorated this year.

Instead of condemning the terrorist atrocity, Mr Abbas accused Israel of committing “50 Holocausts”. He said: “From 1947 to the present day, Israel has committed 50 massacres in Palestinian villages and cities, in Deir Yassin, Tantura, Kafr Qasim and many others, 50 massacres, 50 Holocausts.”

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is an example of antisemitism.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was standing next to Mr Abbas when he made his remark, later condemned it on Twitter, writing: “For us Germans in particular, any relativisation of the singularity of the Holocaust is intolerable and unacceptable. I am disgusted by the outrageous remarks made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.”

Decades ago, Mr Abbas argued in his faux doctoral dissertation in the Soviet Union that the Zionist movement and its leaders were “fundamental partners” of the Nazis and shared equal responsibility for the Holocaust.

Campaign Against Antisemitism reports on news and incidents relating to antisemitism worldwide.