Key Points
- The Palestinian President said Israel committed 50 holocausts against Palestinians.
- Germany's Chancellor says he is "disgusted by the outrageous remarks" made by the Palestinian leader.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has voiced disgust at remarks by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that the German leader said diminished the importance of the Holocaust, while Israel accused Mr Abbas of telling a "monstrous lie".
During a visit to Berlin on Tuesday, Mr Abbas accused Israel of committing "50 Holocausts" against Palestinians since 1947 in response to a question about the upcoming 50th anniversary of the attack on the Israeli team at the Munich Olympics by Palestinian militants.
Mr Scholz did not immediately challenge Mr Abbas, but later tweeted: "For us Germans in particular, any revitalisation of the singularity of the Holocaust is intolerable and unacceptable.
"I am disgusted by the outrageous remarks made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas."
Mr Scholz's office summoned the head of the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Berlin to protest at Mr Abbas' remarks, a German government spokesperson said, while Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid called the comments a "disgrace".
"Mahmoud Abbas accusing Israel of having committed '50 Holocausts' while standing on German soil is not only a moral disgrace, but a monstrous lie," Mr Lapid said on Twitter.
"History will never forgive him."
In response to the outcry, Mr Abbas issued a statement calling Nazi Germany's Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed, "the most heinous crime in modern human history".
He said his remark on Tuesday was not intended to deny the singularity of the Holocaust but to highlight "the crimes and massacres committed against the Palestinian people since the Nakba at the hands of Israeli forces".
Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said Mr Abbas did not deny the "massacres Jews were subjected to in the era of Nazi Germany".
"But he told the world not to lose sight of the massacres the Palestinian people are subjected to," Mr Shtayyeh said.
Mr Abbas often uses the terms "genocide" and "apartheid" to refer to Israel's treatment of Palestinians, but rarely cites the Holocaust.
Groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have concluded that Israel's treatment of Palestinians amounts to apartheid — a charge the state strongly denies.
Mass exodus
Nakba, or catastrophe, is the term Palestinians use to refer to the exile and dispossession of Arabs that accompanied the founding of Israel in 1948.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany expressed "horror" at Mr Abbas' comments, which it said trampled on the memory of Jews murdered in the Holocaust.
It also pointed a finger at Mr Scholz for failing to condemn the comment more quickly, saying it was "scandalous" that the remark was made in the chancellery and went unchallenged.
A government spokesperson said he made a mistake in ending the joint news conference after Mr Abbas made the comment, meaning Mr Scholz did not condemn it immediately.
Earlier, Mr Scholz had rejected Mr Abbas' description of relations between Israel and the Palestinian territories as "apartheid".
Standing alongside Mr Scholz, Mr Abbas had referred to a series of historical incidents in which Palestinians were killed by Israelis in the 1948 war and in ensuing years.
"From 1947 to the present day, Israel has committed 50 massacres in Palestinian villages and cities, in Deir Yassin, Tantura, Kafr Qasim and many others, 50 massacres, 50 Holocausts," Mr Abbas said.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa left out his Holocaust comments in its report of the meeting with Mr Scholz, and the Palestinian foreign ministry said Mr Lapid's comments were intended to divert attention from Israel's "crimes".
Mr Abbas' remarks followed a recent uptick in tensions in the region. Nearly 50 people were killed in Gaza this month after Israel carried out a series of air strikes, in response to what it said was an imminent threat from the militant Islamic Jihad group, which fired more than 1,000 rockets in response.
