German police announced on August 19 that they are investigating Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for saying earlier in the week that Israel has committed “50 Holocausts” against the Palestinians.
Abbas uttered his “50 Holocausts” remark during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on August 16. The Jerusalem Post reported that Abbas was asked by a reporter if he would apologize for the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre, when Palestinians terrorists killed 11 Israeli Olympic athletes. “If you want to go over the past, go ahead,” Abbas replied. “I have 50 slaughters that Israel committed … 50 massacres, 50 slaughters … 50 holocausts.”
ABC News reported that Berlin police have started a preliminary investigation into Abbas’ comments, as Holocaust denial is barred under German law. However, the ABC News report noted that Germany’s Foreign Ministry has indicated that because Abbas was visiting Germany in his capacity as PA president, he will receive immunity.
Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action Agenda at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Rabbi Abraham Cooper said in a statement to the Journal, “Diplomatic immunity isn’t the problem but diplomatic impunity that UN, EU, Germany, and many other nations bestow on the corrupt President Abbas and his pay-to-slay Jews policies underwritten by the largess of nations and NGOs.”
Abbas’ comments have been widely condemned. Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid tweeted that the “50 Holocausts” remark was “not only a moral disgrace, but a monstrous lie.” “Six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, including one and a half million Jewish children,” he wrote. “History will never forgive [Abbas].”
Mahmoud Abbas accusing Israel of having committed "50 Holocausts" while standing on German soil is not only a moral disgrace, but a monstrous lie.
Six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, including one and a half million Jewish children.
History will never forgive him.
— יאיר לפיד – Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) August 16, 2022
Scholz tweeted that he was “disgusted by the outrageous remarks made by Palestinian President Mahmoud #Abbas. For us Germans in particular, any relativization of the singularity of the Holocaust is intolerable and unacceptable. I condemn any attempt to deny the crimes of the Holocaust.” American Jewish Committee CEO David Harris and StandWithUs CEO and Co-Founder Roz Rothstein, herself the daughter of Holocaust survivors, praised Scholz for speaking out against Abbas.
For a German leader to begin a tweet with “I am disgusted” should capture everyone’s attention.
I couldn’t agree more w/ the chancellor. Palestinian Pres. Abbas’s words were beyond vile.
And that they were said in Germany, where the #Holocaust began, only adds to the outrage. https://t.co/ZOBuGjReor
— David Harris (@DavidHarrisNY) August 17, 2022
THANK YOU Chancellor Olaf Scholz – for making it clear that Mahmoud Abbas minimized the Holocaust while standing in Germany (!) and accused #Israel of perpetrating a Holocaust against Palestinians, even as the Palestinian population continues to swell in both Gaza & Judea Samaria pic.twitter.com/tcOXNocsAA
— Roz Rothstein (@RozRothstein) August 18, 2022
But not everyone was satisfied with Scholz’s response. Human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky, who heads the International Legal Forum, tweeted: “Not only did Chancellor Scholz wait 24 hours to issue ‘rebuke’ … but he also gave Abbas a parting gift of 340 million Euros!”
So just to be clear, after Abbas’ Holocaust distortion remarks in Germany, not only did Chancellor Scholz wait 24 hours to issue ‘rebuke’ … but he also gave Abbas a parting gift of 340 million Euros! https://t.co/IRODono2ek
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) August 19, 2022
Abbas has since backtracked on his comments somewhat, telling WAFA, the official news agency of the PA, that “the Holocaust is the most heinous crime in modern human history” and that he didn’t mean “to deny the singularity of the Holocaust that occurred in the last century,” per the Post.
Judea Pearl, Chancellor Professor of Computer Science at UCLA, National Academy of Sciences member and Daniel Pearl Foundation President, highlighted a tweet from journalist Khaled Abu Toameh stating that Palestinians in the West Bank were supportive of Abbas’ “50 Holocaust” remarks. “The Western Press was so happy to dismiss President Abbas ‘Holocaust speech’ as a slip of the tongue. And here comes this massive parade and tells them: ‘No tongue and no slip, these are our deepest unshaken beliefs, our mother milk and our water supply. This is who we ARE!’”
The Western Press was so happy to dismiss President Abbas "Holocaust speech" as a slip of the tongue. And here comes this massive parade and tells them: "No tongue and no slip, these are out deepest unshaken beliefs, our mother milk and our water supply. This is who we ARE!" https://t.co/t6vINiXIo4
— Judea Pearl (@yudapearl) August 19, 2022
