Germany: anger in Israel after Mahmoud Abbas' remarks on the Munich Olympics massacre
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during their joint press conference in Berlin, August 16, 2022. REUTERS - LISI NIESNER
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2 mins
Alongside the German Chancellor, Mahmoud Abbas was questioned during a press conference on Tuesday August 16 about the massacre of eleven Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics by a Palestinian commando affiliated with the Fatah movement just fifty years ago.
His response sparked anger in Israel and a clarification from Olaf Scholz.
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With our Jerusalem correspondent,
Michel Paul
“
You want to talk about the past,
launched
Mahmoud Abbas
.
Since 1947, Israel has committed 50 massacres in 50 Palestinian villages, 50 holocausts.
This little sentence uttered on German soil by the head of the Palestinian Authority provokes anger in Israel.
“
A monstrous lie
” is the response of Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid who speaks of “moral shame”.
“
History will not forgive him
,” he adds.
Many other angry reactions like that of Gidon Saar, the Minister of Justice, claim that Mahmoud Abbas' remarks are part of the Palestinian propaganda intended to delegitimize the very existence of Israel.
For Dani Dayan, the president of the Yad Vashem memorial, it is a revolting speech.
“
We are coming to the bottom
,” he said.
The media in Israel recall the previous slippages of the Palestinian president on the subject of the Holocaust, which was the main theme of his doctoral thesis.
In 2018, he notably proclaimed that it was the behavior of the Jews that had led to the Holocaust and not anti-Semitism.
At the beginning of the afternoon, the entourage of Mahmoud Abbas published an update.
"
The Holocaust is the worst crime against humanity of the modern era,
" the statement said.
►
To read also
: Mahmoud Abbas condemns the Holocaust, "
the most heinous crime
"
Olaf Scholz says he is “
disgusted
”
In Germany, the reaction is also very strong.
“
I am disgusted by the outrageous remarks of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
,” the German Prime Minister tweeted on Wednesday, adding: “
For us Germans in particular, any relativization of the Holocaust is intolerable and unacceptable
.”
I am 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.
— Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz (@Bundeskanzler) August 17, 2022
Olaf Scholz was himself criticized, mainly by the conservative opposition and some media, for not having reacted immediately to the statements made during the press conference, which ended directly after this response.
► To read also: These Olympic Games which were disrupted by political events
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Palestinian territories
Israel
Germany
Mahmoud Abbas