Even The German Palestine Association Slammed Abbas’ Holocaust Remarks
Image by getty images
(JTA) — In an unusual move, the main Palestinian lobby group in Germany condemned remarks by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas about the Holocaust which it called “anti-Semitic.”
The German-Palestinian Society, or DPG, in a statement Tuesday said it “dissociates itself clearly and unequivocally” from the remarks by the Palestinian Authority president.
Speaking Monday in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Abbas said that Jews caused the Holocaust with their “social behavior,” such as money lending. He also said that Jews do not have a historical connection to the land.
“To suggest that Jews in some way share a responsibility for the Holocaust is a grotesque distortion of historical facts,” DPG wrote in its statement. “The claim that the Jewish people have no roots in the Holy Land is equally erroneous,” the statement read. It called Abbas’ address a “speech riddled with anti-Semitic remarks.”
Allegations of anti-Semitism against Abbas by key allies in Europe are rare. The Holocaust is a sensitive issue in Germany, whose Nazi leadership masterminded and led the genocide during World War II. The DPG’s open rebuke of Abbas may also reflect growing discomfort with his increasingly radical rhetoric among allies stating the case for Palestinian rights in liberal societies.
The European Jewish Congress on Wednesday called on European leaders and officials to cease all contact with the Palestinian leader until he apologizes for his outrageous anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.
European Union officials, including the organization’s diplomats in Israel, have so far not commented publicly on Abbas’ speech. The United States’ ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, condemned Abbas’ statements, calling them a “new low.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
