![memri](/sites/default/files/pic/mlogo.jpg)
PA President Mahmoud Abbas said that the massacres to which European Jews were subjected, from the 11th century until the Holocaust, were not because they were Jews, but because of their function in society. "The anti-Jewish [sentiment] was not because of their religion, but because of their function in society, which had to do with usury, banks, and so on," he said in his speech at the Palestinian National Council in Ramallah on April 30. Abbas further said that Hitler had struck a deal with the Jewish Anglo-Palestine Bank in Jerusalem to facilitate emigration of German Jews to Palestine. "Their narrative about coming to this country because of their longing for Zion, or whatever - we're tired of hearing this," he said. "The truth is that this is a colonialist enterprise, aimed at planting a foreign body in this region."
Following is a transcript:
Mahmoud Abbas: I’ve heard that the brothers in the Hamas leadership in Gaza are talking about peaceful and popular resistance. This is a good thing. Indeed, what is taking place at the [Gaza] border, as part of the Return Uprising, is peaceful and popular resistance.
[…]
Mahmoud Abbas: But I am honestly asking that you pull the children a little bit away from the range of the bullets. Keep the children away. We do not want to become a people of maimed individuals.
[…]
Mahmoud Abbas: The Jews who moved to Eastern and Western Europe had been subjected to a massacre by one country or another every ten to fifteen years, since the eleventh century and until the Holocaust in Germany. Okay? But why was this happening? They say that it was happening because they are Jews. But three Jews, in three different books… One of them is Joseph Stalin. I think we all know him, right? Stalin was a Jew. There was another one, whose name was Abraham Leon, and a third called Isaac Deutscher. All three say that the hatred toward the Jews was due not to their religion, but… Excuse me?
Voice from the Audience: It was Karl Marx. It was Karl Marx.
Mahmoud Abbas: Right, it was Karl Marx. I’m sorry. It was Karl Marx.
[He said that] the reason for the hatred of the Jews is not their religion but their function in society. That is a different issue. So the Jewish question, which was prevalent in all European countries… the anti-Jewish [sentiment] was not because of their religion, but because of their function in society, which had to do with usury, banks, and so on. The best evidence for this is that there were Jews in the Arab countries, so how come there was not a single incident against Jews, just for being Jews? You think I am exaggerating? I challenge you to find a single incident against Jews, just because they were Jews, in 1,400 years, in any Arab country.
[…]
Mahmoud Abbas: Let me say something that may come to you as a surprise. You may or may not know this. In 1933, one month after Hitler’s rise to power, there was an agreement between the German Ministry of Economics and the Jewish Anglo-Palestine Bank in Jerusalem. They agreed that any German Jew who wants to emigrate to Palestine could have his movable and immovable property transferred to Palestine. Did Hitler love the Jews to such a degree? Any Jew who wanted to immigrate to Palestine was entitled to receive all his property, both movable and immovable. If he did not want to immigrate to Palestine, all they would give him was a transportation ticket to Belgium. What did Hitler want? He wanted the Jewish country to be loyal to him. So in six years, 60,000 wealthy Germans emigrated from Germany to Palestine.
So who was trying to establish the [Jewish] “National Homeland”? Balfour hated the Jews, but nevertheless, he gave them a state. The Russian foreign minister was well known for his hatred of the Jews, yet he said to [the Jews]: “Come, I will give you a state in Palestine.” So their narrative about coming to this country because of their longing for Zion, or whatever – we’re tired of hearing this. The truth is that this is a colonialist enterprise, aimed at planting a foreign body in this region.
[…]
Mahmoud Abbas: The Arab Spring is a lie invented by America.
[Applause]
This was the head of the Palestine Committee in parliament.
America invented the Arab Spring, and before that, the “New Middle East” and the “constructive anarchy”… I’m sure that you read newspapers. More than once, the newspapers published maps showing how the Arab countries are supposed to be divided up. For example: Egypt is supposed to be divided into four countries, Saudi Arabia into three countries, Iraq into three countries, Syria into four countries, Lebanon into 35 countries… Every sect there wants a country… All of this appeared on those maps! So when the Arab Spring arrived, we said: It’s not for us.
[…]