Olaf Scholz, the chancellor of Germany, expressed dismay on Wednesday at Mahmoud Abbas’ comments that he claimed downplayed the significance of the Holocaust, while Israel charged Abbas with making a ‘monstrous lie.’
Scholz tweeted on Wednesday, ‘Any relativization of the singularity of the Holocaust is repugnant and unacceptable, particularly for us Germans. The obscene statements made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas offend me.’
When asked about the approaching 50th anniversary of the Palestinian militant attack on the Israeli team at the Munich Olympics, Abbas responded during a visit to Berlin on Tuesday that Israel had committed ’50 Holocausts.’
Yair Lapid, the prime minister of Israel, referred to the remarks as ‘disgraceful.’
Lapid wrote on Twitter, ‘Mahmoud Abbas accusing Israel of committing ’50 Holocausts’ while standing on German territory is not just a moral shame but also a horrific falsehood.’
History won’t ever forgive him.
Holocaust in Nazi Germany resulted in the death of six million Jews.
Standing next to Scholz, Abbas cited a number of historical instances in which Israelis killed Palestinians during the 1948 conflict that preceded the establishment of the state of Israel and in the years that followed.
‘Israel has committed 50 murders, 50 Holocausts’ in Palestinian towns and cities like Deir Yassin, Tantura, and Kafr Qasim since 1947, according to Abbas.
The Holocaust remarks were left out of the official Palestinian news agency Wafa’s account of the meeting with Scholz, and the Palestinian foreign ministry said Lapid’s remarks were made to deflect attention from Israel’s ‘crimes.’
The ministry issued a statement in which it claimed that ‘the occupying power is not content with committing these crimes on a daily and ongoing basis, and also does not tolerate and rejects any talk or statements that remind the Israelis and the international community of the many crimes committed by Israel.’
Abbas’ statement came after months of tension and a brief conflict this month in which 49 people died in Gaza as a result of Israel’s use of airstrikes to counter what it believed to be an impending threat from the militant Islamic Jihad group. In response, the group fired over 1,000 rockets, escalating the situation.
There have also been numerous attacks on Israelis, including one on Sunday when eight people were injured on a bus carrying Jewish worshipers in Jerusalem. Dozens of Palestinians have also died in clashes with Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank.
In the areas that Israel conquered during the Middle East conflict of 1967, Palestinians are vying for independence. Since 2014, negotiations have been halted.
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