Palestinian Authority TV Lauds President Abbas' Holocaust Denial Ph.D. Thesis, Terror Attacks Launched from Lebanon

The official Palestinian Authority TV channel broadcast a bio-documentary on President Mahmoud Abbas. The show presented his Ph.D. dissertation from the Russian Institute of Oriental Studies, claiming that he had "exposed the relations between the global Zionist organization and the Nazi regime." In a book, published on the basis of the dissertation, Abbas claimed that the number of victims in the Holocaust was less than one million. The PA TV program included an interview with Dr. Khadr Al-Zufairi, a personal friend of Abbas, who praised his oratory skills and said that Abbas had presented 93 documents to prove his claims. Later in the show, the channel lauded Dalal Al-Mughrabi, who led the 1978 Coastal Road terrorist attack in Israel, and other terrorists who launched "heroic operations" from Lebanon, saying that they "embodied the epitome of martyrdom in occupied Palestine." The program aired on July 20, 2018.

Narrator: "When [Mahmoud Abbas] headed the Palestinian-Soviet Friendship Foundation, he was working on a Ph.D. dissertation, which he later published as an important book, titled: The Other Side: The Secret Relationship between Nazism and Zionism. In the book, Abbas presented documents exposing the relations between the global Zionist organization and the Nazi regime, and the agreements between the Zionists and the Nazis, especially the Haavara Agreement. The Hebrew word ['Haavara'] means 'transfer.'"

Khadr Al-Zufairi: "The dissertation committee consisted of 27 professors. There was an unexpectedly large attendance. People were asking one another: How come so many people have come? That dissertation was unusual – even its title was unusual for the Russians. Anyway, the custom is that when a student defends his dissertation, he is allowed to write three or four pages of notes to read from. Abbas had only one page, with the main points, and he started speaking. The translator was from the Institute of Oriental Studies. He was fluent in both Arabic and Russian. He lectured, defending his dissertation, improvising as he spoke... Abbas is a very eloquent and capable speaker. He defended his dissertation. Then the head of the committee of the Institute of Oriental Studies asked him: 'Do you have any documents that prove what you are saying?' [Abbas] picked up the documents next to him and said: 'I have 93 documents to prove what I'm saying.' He read out an abstract of the first document, then the next, and so on. He even had documents that he had managed to get from Israel. Anyway, he finished with distinction, and the Institute of Oriental Studies asked to print the dissertation as a book in Russian."

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Narrator: "The Lebanon era witnessed some wonderful bright spots. From Lebanon, the convoys of Palestinian heroism were launched. The martyr Dalal Al-Mughrabi and her comrades embodied the epitome of martyrdom in occupied Palestine. In heroic operations in Al-Khalisa [Kiryat Shmona], Bisan [Beit Shean], and in hundreds of other operations that they launched from Lebanon, the Palestinians proved that they are a vital people, ready to sacrifice all that they hold most dear, in order to achieve their freedom and independence."