Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ recent comments that blamed Jews for the Holocaust resulted in a sharp rebuke from the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C.
Sara J. Bloomfield, the director of the museum, said in a press release, “Nazi Germany and its collaborators were solely responsible for the Holocaust.”
“Abbas’s self-titled ‘history lesson’ was anything but,” Bloomfield said. “Rather than expose Palestinians to accurate information about the Holocaust and the anti-Semitic persecution Jews faced for centuries in Europe, Abbas distorts the history to advance an agenda that lies about the Holocaust and Jews’ connection to Israel.”
The museum also pointed out in the press release that the Nazis’ anti-Semitism was particularly sordid because they viewed Jews as “inferior” and a “threat” to Germany.
The museum called “on all leaders and citizens” to condemn Abbas’ comments.
In an April 30 speech in Ramallah, Abbas claimed that the Jews’ “social behavior, [charging] interest, and financial matters” was responsible for the Holocaust. His speech was laced with other anti-Semitic statements, including that Israel’s founding had nothing to do with Judaism and that Ashkenazi Jews have no historical lineage to Israel.
