(Wednesday, August 17, 2022) – The European Jewish Congress (EJC) strongly condemns the disgraceful comments made by Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas in Berlin during public remarks alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz yesterday when he accused Israel of committing “50 holocausts”.
“The fact that Abbas would so brazenly demean the murder of six million Jews in Berlin so publicly and think it is acceptable is sadly additional proof of why he has so consistently refused peace with Israel,” said EJC President Ariel Muzicant. “A person who appropriates the suffering of others to score political points, cannot possibly see that suffering and thus has no understanding of the need for peace and reconciliation.”
We also note the importance of responding immediately to such comments and we call on the German political class to unequivocally condemn them. It is absolutely unacceptable that a platform in the German capital should be given to Holocaust relativisation.
“Unfortunately, in Berlin, the real Mahmoud Abbas, the person who wrote his doctoral dissertation denying central aspects of the Holocaust, was unmasked, and we call on world leaders to demand a full apology and treat him the same way as any other Holocaust denier. In other words, to demand a full and unequivocal apology in words and deeds.”