“Hateful and Antisemitic”: Abbas condemned by US and EU
Mahmoud Abbas was on the receiving end of criticism for “antisemitic” remarks he made recently. His comments were denounced by the European Union and the US, according to The New Arab and agencies, September 8.
Abbas, 87, who has been Palestine’s President since early 2005, made controversial remarks about the Holocaust.
The Palestine National Authority’s (PNA) President stated last month, “They say Hitler killed the Jews for being Jews, and that Europe hated the Jews because they were Jewish. Not true”.
Abbas made the comments during a meeting with his Fatah Movement’s Revolutionary Council.
The EU’s diplomatic service and Deborah Lipstadt, a US special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, were strongly critical of the words uttered by Mr. Abbas.
The octogenarian added, “It was clearly explained that the Europeans fought Jews because of their social role, and not their religion,” further stating that this role “had to do with usury, money, and so on and so forth.”.
With regards to the comments, Lipstadt called for the Palestinian Head of State to apologise for his remarks that she labelled “hateful” and “antisemitic”.
The EU’s diplomatic service noted in a statement that his comments were “false and grossly misleading”.
Despite Israel’s disregard for the rule of international law, The European Union continues to collaborate with the state, a partnership that was originally formed in 2005 ( The EU- Israel Association Agreement).
In a video widely shared on Twitter (now known as X), Abbas made a speech in which he said that Ashkenazi Jews were not Semites and that they originally came from a Tatar Kingdom that converted to Judaism.
The term “Tatar” refers to Turkic ethnic groups and notably, Russia has a significant Tatar population. A 2021 census revealed that around 4.7 million Tatars were Russian residents.
It is not the first time that President Abbas has sparked controversy, especially regarding comments made about Jews, in 2018 he claimed that hateful sentiment towards Jews in Europe was because of their social position and their financial role in Europe.
Many have feared that Abbas’ views may delegitimise the Palestinian cause as criticism of the Israeli State and the horrific treatment of Palestinians could potentially be seen as “antisemitism”.
In the past, a significant number of pro-Palestinian activists have been dismissed from roles as well as in some instances, having bank accounts shut down in the west.
When talking about the PNA’s President, Medhi Hassan, a British-Muslim journalist who presents a television show on American media outlet, MSNBC, said, “Abbas should have resigned years ago. He has no electoral legitimacy. And he says disgraceful, ignorant, antisemitic stuff.”
THE NEW ARAB
