The main Palestinian lobby group in Germany condemned what it called antisemitic remarks by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas about the Holocaust.
The German-Palestinian Society, or DPG, in a statement on Tuesday said it “dissociates itself clearly and unequivocally” from the remarks made by Abbas.
Speaking on Monday in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Abbas said that Jews caused the Holocaust with their “social behaviour,” such as money lending. He also said that Jews do not have a historical connection to the land.
The statement by the German Palestinian group called Abbas’s address a “speech riddled with antisemitic remarks.”
German Foreign Minister Heiku Mass said in response to Abbas’ remarks that his country was responsible for “one of the worst crimes in history.”
“Therefore,” he said, “we must respond resolutely to any antisemitic expression.”
The Palestinian leader has a history of Holocaust denial. His 1982 doctoral dissertation was titled “The Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism,” and he has in the past been accused of denying the scope of the Holocaust. The dissertation reportedly claimed that the six million figure of Holocaust victims was hugely exaggerated and that Zionist leaders cooperated with the Nazis.
