Holocaust scandal surrounding Abbas: fierce criticism of Scholz – “incomprehensible event in the chancellery”

Created: 08/17/2022, 10:35 am

By: Felix Durach

At a joint press conference with Olaf Scholz, Palestinian President Abbas put the Holocaust into perspective.

Criticism of the Chancellor's reaction comes from Germany and Israel.

Berlin – Even on the day after the scandal surrounding the joint press conference by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the outrage is great.

The 87-year-old had caused a stir when he put the Holocaust into perspective with his statements at the joint appearance in the Federal Chancellery.

The Chancellor did not publicly contradict his counterpart immediately afterwards.

Sharp criticism came from the ranks of the opposition in particular.

CDU politicians criticize Scholz after Abbas scandal - "incomprehensible event in the Chancellery"

CDU leader Friedrich Merz wrote on Tuesday evening about the press conference on Twitter: "An incredible event in the Chancellery.

The Chancellor should have contradicted the Palestinian President clearly and asked him to leave the house!” Merz's predecessor as party leader and failed candidate for Chancellor of the Union, Armin Laschet, also criticized Scholz in a similarly harsh manner.

The 61-year-old wrote that Abbas's appearance was "the worst derailment that was ever heard in the Chancellery."

The Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, Christoph Heubner, criticized the federal government on Tuesday evening.

"It is astonishing and disconcerting that the German side was not prepared for Abbas' provocations and that his statements on the Holocaust at the press conference went unchallenged," said Heubner in Berlin.

The deputy FDP chairman Alexander Graf Lambsdorff wrote on Twitter about the incident: "A broader public is finally learning how the Palestinians and Abbas - Israel's alleged 'partners' - are feeling.

That is more important than criticism of the Chancellor, whose outrage was clearly visible.”

At a press conference with the Federal Chancellor - Palestinian President Abbas puts the Holocaust into perspective

As a reminder: on Tuesday afternoon, Chancellor Olaf Scholz received the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, in Berlin.

After the meeting, the two statesmen gave a press conference in the Federal Chancellery.

When asked by a journalist about the Olympic attack in Munich 50 years ago, the 87-year-old made a verbal blunder.

"From 1947 to the present day, Israel has committed 50 massacres in 50 Palestinian villages and towns, 50 massacres, 50 holocausts ( editor's

)"

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (r) at a joint press conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Berlin.

© Wolfgang Kumm/dpa

Scholz criticized Abbas afterwards - "I am deeply outraged by the unspeakable statements"

Immediately after the answer, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit ended the press conference as planned, leaving the Chancellor no time to react to the statements made by his counterpart.

Scholz looked visibly upset after the press conference ended, but shook Abbas' hand at the end.

The Chancellor commented on the events on Tuesday evening.

"Especially for us Germans, any relativization of the Holocaust is unbearable and unacceptable," Scholz told

.

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On Wednesday morning, the Chancellor also followed up on Twitter.

"I am deeply outraged by the unspeakable statements made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

For us Germans in particular, any relativization of the Holocaust is intolerable and unacceptable.

I condemn any attempt to deny the crimes of the Holocaust.”

Abbas scandal also causes a stir in Israel – "History will never forgive him"

The federal government's anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, told the editorial network Germany (RND) that Abbas was not doing "legitimate Palestinian concerns" any service.

"By putting the Holocaust into perspective, President Abbas lacked any sensitivity towards us German hosts," criticized Klein.

"This is especially true with regard to the question asked about the Olympic attack, which was carried out by PLO terrorists."

The statements made by the Palestinian President also caused a stir in Israel.

"For Mahmoud Abbas to accuse Israel of committing '50 holocausts' while standing on German soil is not only a moral disgrace but a blatant lie," Israeli Prime Minister Jair Lapid wrote on Twitter.

"History will never forgive him for that." The new German ambassador to Israel, former government spokesman Steffen Seibert, was also outraged.

Abbas' statements were "wrong and unacceptable," he wrote on Twitter.

Germany will never accept attempts to relativize the "unique dimension of the crimes of the Holocaust".

Putting the Holocaust into perspective: Abbas' statements are not the first to cause a stir

The Palestinian President had already caused a stir in 2018 with Holocaust statements in a different context.

At the time he said the Holocaust was not triggered by anti-Semitism.

Instead, the trigger was the social position of the Jews as lenders of loans with interest.

Afterwards he apologized for the anti-Semitic statements.

It was not his intention to offend anyone.

Press conference with Palestinian President Abbas – previously Scholz clearly contradicted

Scholz had previously criticized Abbas on the open stage for describing Israeli politics as an "apartheid system".

"I want to say explicitly at this point that I do not adopt the word apartheid and that I do not think it is right to describe the situation," said Scholz.

Abbas had previously said the "transformation into the new reality of a single state in an apartheid system" does not serve security and stability in the region.

Apartheid is understood as the doctrine of separating individual ethnic population groups, primarily in South Africa until 1994.

It is internationally recognized as a crime against humanity.

Abbas had repeatedly accused Israel of this.