On August 16, 2022, Palestinian Authority (PA) President and Fatah head Mahmoud 'Abbas met in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as part of an official visit to Germany. At the close of the two leaders' joint press conference, 'Abbas was asked if he would to apologize to Israel for the terrorist attack on the Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics, in which 11 members of the Israeli Olympic delegation were murdered by Fatah's Black September terror organization.[1] 'Abbas refrained from condemning this attack, and said that, since 1947, Israel has committed "50 massacres" and "50 holocausts" against the Palestinian people,[2] a statement that sparked outrage in Germany, Israel and around the world.[3]
For a MEMRI TV clip of 'Abbas's statements, click here or below:
'Abbas has previously denied the scope of the Holocaust. In the introduction to his 1984 book The Other Side: The Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism, which is based on his doctoral dissertation, he wrote that "the number of Jewish [Holocaust] victims could be six million but could [also] be far smaller, even less than a million." He stated further that "the Zionist movement's stake in inflating the number of murdered in the war was aimed at [ensuring] great gains." Citing Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson, he also questioned whether gas chambers were used to kill Jews, writing: "Regarding the gas chambers, which were supposedly designed for murdering living Jews: A scientific study published by Professor Robert Faurisson of France denies that the gas chambers were for murdering people, and claims that they were only for incinerating bodies, out of concern for the spread of disease and infection in the region." [4]
In a 2018 speech to the Palestinian National Council in Ramallah, 'Abbas said that the massacres to which European Jews had been subjected from the 11th century until the Holocaust were not because they were Jews, but "because of their function in society, which had to do with usury, banks, and so on."[5] Moreover, 'Abbas has awarded medals of honor to individuals who published articles containing antisemitism and Holocaust denial.[6]
Following the outrage over 'Abbas's statements in Germany, Bakr Abu Bakr, a former member of Fatah's Revolutionary Council and former columnist for the PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, published an article in the online daily alwatanvoice.com and on his personal Facebook page in which he justified 'Abbas's remarks. He wrote that the Nakba was indeed the Palestinian holocaust and that, since then, Israel has perpetrated additional massacres that can be called "holocausts." The criticism against 'Abbas, he added, was nothing but propaganda by Zionist and pro-Zionist forces which exploit the suffering of the Holocaust victims and want the world to ignore the Palestinian holocaust.
The following are translated excerpts from Abu Baker's article.[7]
"The opportunistic apparatus that gains benefits from the suffering of the world and from the suffering of the innocent European Jews pulled out its weapons against President Mahmoud 'Abbas, Abu Mazen, when… he evoked the need to treat all victims equally [and said] that the Arab Muslim victim is no different from the victims of the massacre and Holocaust that the criminal Hitler perpetrated against the German Jews and against others during the European war called the Second World [War].
"The Zionist and pro-Zionist media went crazy trying to present the blood of Jews of every nationality as uniquely noble and sacred! [The idea] that all human blood is equal is not to their liking. When it comes to the ongoing killing of the Palestinians, their approach is to disregard it, draw attention away from it and even support it, especially when the killing and massacre are perpetrated by the Israelis who are occupying Palestine.
"The Zionist machine of propaganda, slander and lies – the 'Holocaust industry' – wants the world to ignore the Palestinian holocaust, namely the massacres perpetrated against the Palestinians, which number over 50, as Abu Mazen pointed out. He was outraged by the blatant discrimination [against the Palestinians] when he said that there were '50 massacres, 50 holocausts.' The purpose of this [Zionist] propaganda is to convince the world that the Palestinian Arabs have no right to describe the Nakba and the massacres [against them] as a holocaust!...
"It is a disgrace that, according to the perception of global Zionism, it is permissible to shed Palestinian blood! It is a disgrace that it is considered permissible to shed Arab and Muslim blood… Our brother President Abu Mazen was right when, during [his visit] to Germany, he confronted the pro-Zionist world, which is described as 'free,' and said 'enough' when he was asked to condemn the Munich operation of 1972. [He was right to say] that, since the Nakba of 1948 – the Palestinian holocaust – the Israelis have perpetrated several [additional] holocausts [in the form of] repeated massacres. Wanting to turn to making peace, he noted that the Zionist regime is a regime of racist discrimination and apartheid.
"Brother Abu Mazen was right. There is only one kind of murder and one kind of blood. People's mutual perception should be based on equality, not on discrimination, regardless of their [skin] color, nationality or religion. A murderer is a murderer. Massacres and holocausts are the same everywhere, regardless of which nationality they are directed against. The extremist Zionist voices that have become addicted to blackmailing the world are the result of an ideology of racist and religious discrimination. [This ideology] is anchored in the delusion of 'the chosen [Jewish] people,' [an idea] that casts God as a racist real-estate agent who zealously favors some of his creatures [over others] – a description which does not, of course, suit the Creator.
"The famous and decent Jewish-American writer Norman Finkelstein wrote the book The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering in 2000. Generally speaking, Finkelstein, in his controversial essays, focused on the Nazi massacre of the Jews – the Holocaust – and accused Western historians and academics of fabricating historical facts in order to defend the policy and actions of the Zionist occupation. The book sparked a huge uproar by claiming that Israel uses the Holocaust to gain material benefits…
"Finkelstein rightly contended that Israel's human rights record is incomparably atrocious… The real free world agrees with this position, and this is also what Abu Mazen expressed in his August 16, 2022 statements in Berlin, when he voiced his anger over the discrimination against the Arabs and Palestinians and over [the idea that] only Jewish blood is sacred.
"The Israelis were furious with brother Abu Mazen and his justified remarks about the equality of blood, and directed extensive invective against him, [calling] his statements 'disgraceful,' 'condemnable,' shameful' and so on. [They did so even though] he is the Palestinian leader who made more peaceful overtures towards them than any other – to the extent of forcing the all the [Palestinian] organizations to adopt popular peaceful resistance as the [sole] means and method of waging resistance. So how can these extremist and radical racists, who since the dawn of history have sanctified the blue [Jewish] blood over the red blood [of non-Jews], comprehend the fact that all human blood is one[?]"
[1] It should be noted that Fatah official Muhammad 'Odeh, known as Abu Daoud, wrote in his autobiography that 'Abbas was in charge of obtaining funds for the attack, a claim that 'Abbas has denied.
[2] Dw.com/ar, August 16, 2022.
[3] In response to the criticism, 'Abbas issued a clarification, in which he said that the Holocaust is the most heinous crime in modern history and that he had not meant to deny its uniqueness, but added that since the Nakba the Israeli forces have continued to perpetrate massacres against the Palestinian people. Wafa.ps, August 17, 2022.
[4] See MEMRI report Palestinian Leader: Number of Jewish Victims in the Holocaust Might be 'Even Less Than a Million...' Zionist Movement Collaborated with Nazis to 'Expand the Mass Extermination' of the Jews, May 31, 2002. Palestinian television even aired a program about 'Abbas's doctoral dissertation and book. See MEMRI TV clip no. 6688, Palestinian Authority TV Lauds President Abbas' Holocaust Denial Ph.D. Thesis, Terror Attacks Launched from Lebanon, July 20, 2018.
[5] See MEMRI TV clip no. 9551 PA President Mahmoud Abbas: Holocaust, Massacres of European Jews Due to Their Function in Society as Usurers; Hitler Struck a Deal with the Jews, May 2, 2018.
