Fernando Paz, a historian, announced Thursday that he was dropping out of the race. The announcement followed intense scrutiny in the Spanish media of the decision by the Vox party this week to have him run in the city of Albacete, in the central part of the country, in the April 28 national elections for parliament, La Vanguardia reported.
Paz, who cited a “media hunt” against him in explaining his decision to resign, has said the facts concerning the Holocaust are “far from having been established with accuracy” and called the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals a “farce.”
In December, Vox became the first far-right party in decades to enter a regional parliament by winning 12 seats in Andalusia.
ACOM, a pro-Israel group combating efforts to boycott Israel and forms of anti-Semitism in Spain, said in a statement about the resignation: “We want to thank Vox for the sensitivity, proximity and empathy it has always shown for the Spanish Jewish community.” The party has a “commitment to the friendship between Spain and the state of Israel as partners and strategic allies,” ACOM wrote.
On Wednesday, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain condemned the Paz nomination.
