With his relativization of the Holocaust on German soil of all places, Palestinian President Abbas caused outrage nationally and internationally. The FDP general secretary speaks of an “enormous provocation”. Sharp criticism of the behavior of the Chancellor comes from the Union.
FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai considers Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas’ comparison with the Holocaust to be counterproductive with regard to the Middle East peace process. “It is once again becoming clear that no progress can be expected in the peace process with this generation of Palestinian politicians. Abbas did the Palestinians no favors with his appearance in Berlin,” Djir-Sarai told the Rheinische Post. Union politicians criticized the behavior of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and demanded an apology from him.
On Tuesday, Abbas accused Israel of multiple “Holocausts” against the Palestinians, triggering outrage. “Israel has committed 50 massacres in 50 Palestinian locations since 1947 to this day,” Abbas said at a joint press conference with Chancellor Scholz, adding: “50 massacres, 50 holocausts.”
The chancellor only distanced himself from the statements after the press conference, after government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit ended the event immediately after Abbas’ words. Scholz told the “Bild” newspaper: “Especially for us Germans, any relativization of the Holocaust is unbearable and unacceptable.”
The Chancellor had already criticized Abbas during the press conference before the “Holocaust” statements because Abbas had described Israeli politics as an “apartheid system”. Djir-Sarai told the “Rheinische Post”: “To make tasteless and historically incorrect claims about the Holocaust in Germany of all places represents a tremendous provocation.” The Palestinian President’s statements are “absolutely unacceptable and downright grotesque”.
The federal government’s anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, spoke out in favor of maintaining the thread of talks with Abbas despite the scandal. “President Abbas has repeatedly attracted attention with verbal and written statements about Israel,” he said in the ARD “Tagesthemen”. “On the other hand, he is the representative of the Palestinian community and you have to deal with him now.” He hopes that the Palestinian side has also learned that such statements are unacceptable in Germany.
Previously, the chairwoman of the support group for the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Lea Rosh, had questioned aid funds for the Palestinian Authority. Abbas’ “outrageous statement” must have consequences. According to the German Development Ministry, Germany is one of the largest donors in the Palestinian territories. So far, the Federal Republic has committed more than 1.2 billion euros for bilateral development cooperation. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier had also condemned the Holocaust comparison in the “Bild” newspaper as completely unacceptable. On the other hand, Abbas tried to dampen the outrage. In Berlin, he did not want to question the uniqueness of the Holocaust, he said, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
The CDU followed up on its criticism of the Chancellor’s appearance. The vice chair of the German-Israeli parliamentary group, Gitta Connemann, demanded an apology from Scholz. It was a scandal that the chancellor remained silent after Abbas’ statements “and then shook Abbas’ hand,” she told the newspapers of the Funke media group. The chancellor’s silence harms Germany in terms of foreign policy, “first and foremost towards Israel.” The chancellor must limit the damage and explain himself. “And he has to apologize,” said the CDU politician.
Scholz received support from the ranks of the Greens. Lamya Kaddor, member of the Bundestag, also accused the Chancellor of making mistakes, but rejected the far-reaching allegations against him. It was “absolutely inappropriate” to want to gain political capital from Scholz’s behavior, as the CDU is trying to do. The International Auschwitz Committee complained that Scholz had insufficiently prepared himself “for the expected provocations” by Abbas. “It is also a duping of the chancellor and an attempt to build up pressure against the federal government and against Olaf Scholz,” Executive Vice President Christoph Heubner told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
