Abu Mazen's statement on German soil, according to which "Israel has committed 50 holocausts in Palestine", was met with outrage in Jerusalem - but it cannot be said with surprise.
After all, Abu Mazen has been a well-known Holocaust denier for decades, and the ritual in which he utters an outrageous statement on the subject and then, under pressure, issues an apology that it is highly doubtful that he means - has been repeated several times.
Despite this, it is not possible to ignore the Israeli embarrassment that was once again expressed in strong condemnation - along with the avoidance of any practical action against the Authority's chairman, at least until the time of writing these lines. A query that we forwarded to the Prime Minister's Office regarding the possibility of Israel taking any practical response steps, was met with thunderous silence.
It is only possible to describe what opposition leader Yair Lapid would have said about the government's incompetence, if the situation had been reversed and Netanyahu would have de facto rejected such a statement from Abu Mazen.
Not condemning, not apologizing: Abu Mazen and Shultz, photo: AFP
This is the same torch that, before he was prime minister, did not hesitate to undermine relations with Poland due to the crisis regarding the "Holocaust Law", and now has fallen silent in the face of an 87-year-old anti-Semitic leader - in addition to an angry tweet on Twitter and the constant demand for another apology, which was conveyed in a conversation with No. 2 of Abu Mazen, Hussein al-Sheikh.
This is the same torch that always emphasizes being the son of Holocaust survivors and the fact that Israel will never accept the contempt of the Holocaust, its denial and the distortion of history.
But apparently, as the late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said at the time, "things you see from here you don't see from there."
So what exactly do you see from the Prime Minister's office that you don't see from the opposition leader?
First and foremost, the security coordination with the Palestinians, which, as Defense Minister Gantz claimed yesterday, "saved the lives of many Israelis."
Behind this term hides a whole web of intelligence sharing between the parties, coordination of military operations to avoid friction between the IDF and the PA's security mechanisms, and even an unofficial turning a blind eye of the Palestinians from essential security operations that are conducted almost every night in Area A.
The steps that could be taken
Despite these reasons, which cannot be dismissed, Israel has a certain range of practical response options, but the government hesitates to resort to them as well.
First and foremost, it could be decided that no official would meet with Abu Mazen again until further notice.
Such a decision would have ended the intimate meetings between the Authority's chairman and the Defense Minister, at least one of which was held at Gantz's home in Rosh Ha'Ain, and convey a firmer message without risking the collapse of relations with the Authority.
A more serious injury could have been done by delaying the tax payments that Israel collects for the Palestinian Authority.
Any such decision may have a counter-expression on the ground, and it involves a certain risk, but in the face of the risk, the question arises, where does Israel draw its value red line?
could act differently.
Yair Lapid, photo: Prime Minister's Office
In addition, coming to terms with anti-Semitism at the top of the PA has practical consequences, since these perceptions permeate the Palestinian public - from the textbooks to the incitement in the media - and thus make it very difficult to promote any kind of order or reconciliation between the nations.
Therefore, alongside the immediate considerations, Israel's strategic conduct in the face of the anti-Semitism embedded on the other side must also be considered.
Dr. Ido Zelkovich, head of the Middle East Studies program at Emek Jezreel Academic College, told "Israel Today" that "from the very statement of Abu Mazen we learn that although the Palestinian Authority signs political agreements whose purpose is to create a reality of peace, in practice it leads At the same time, a discourse that does not allow for completion and cannot produce such a reality."
Such a harsh and shocking statement by the chairman of the Authority on German soil could have been a good opportunity to end Israeli reconciliation with Palestinian anti-Semitism, which is accepted almost as a matter of course for us, and to set a new standard of zero tolerance for this phenomenon, which has deep and long-term strategic consequences. Instead, in Jerusalem Choose to condemn and move on.
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