Berlin police have opened a preliminary investigation against Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas over his comments this week that Israel had committed “50 holocausts” against Palestinians.
The remarks, during a news conference in Berlin alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, sparked outrage in Germany, Israel and beyond.
Police confirmed a report Friday by German daily Bild that Abbas was being investigated for possible incitement to hatred after receiving a formal criminal complaint. Downplaying the Holocaust is a criminal offense in Germany, but the opening of a preliminary inquiry doesn’t automatically entail a full investigation.
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.” Matthew 24:9
(German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas leave after a press conference at the Chancellery in Berlin)
“Keeping alive the memory of the civilizational rupture of the Shoah is an everlasting responsibility of this and every German government,” said Scholz, according to Berlin’s readout of the conversation.
On Wednesday, Scholz said he was “disgusted” by the remarks, after enduring criticism by local media for not immediately countering Abbas’s remarks, which the latter made as the two leaders stood side by side during a Berlin press conference the night before. Though Scholz seemed pained as Abbas spoke, he did not speak up.
During their phone call, Lapid thanked the German leader, saying he was speaking both as Israel’s premier and as the son of a Holocaust survivor, according to a statement released by Lapid’s office.
At Tuesday’s press conference, Abbas was responding to a reporter’s question about the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Munich Massacre. Eleven Israeli athletes and a German police officer died when members of the Palestinian terror group Black September took hostages at the Olympic Village on September 5, 1972. At the time of the attack, the group was linked to Abbas’s Fatah party.
Abbas refused.
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