(Photo: Stefan Boness/Ipon)
Tel Aviv After the scandal over the Holocaust statement by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Israeli Prime Minister Jair Lapid. Abbas’ statements in the Chancellery were “intolerable and completely unacceptable for him personally and for the entire federal government,” said Scholz.
He strongly condemns any attempt to deny or relativize the Holocaust. Every federal government is responsible for keeping alive the memory of the Shoah’s breach of civilization. According to the information, Lapid and Scholz agreed to meet soon in Berlin.
Abbas said at a joint press conference with Scholz in Berlin on Tuesday that Israel was responsible for “50 holocausts” against the Palestinians. Scholz had left this claim unchallenged. Only hours later did he condemn Abbas’ statement in a tweet.
During the press conference, the chancellor merely distanced himself from Abbas’ allegations of apartheid against Israel and at the same time called for elections in the Palestinian territories.
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Official Jerusalem downplays the fact that the Chancellor did not react immediately and spontaneously to the Palestinian President’s relativization of the Holocaust. After all, it’s nice that he condemned the settlement, albeit with a delay of several hours, says an Israeli diplomat.
Israeli media criticize Scholz
In the media, however, Scholz is sharply criticized. He “failed miserably” in his most recent test, writes the time newspaper, for example. And the mass newspaper “Yedioth Achronot” headlined on Thursday: “Abbas spreads poison, Europe financed.”
In doing so, the newspaper alludes to the European aid funds that, from the Israeli perspective, benefit Palestinian terrorists and Palestinian textbooks with anti-Semitic depictions.
The focus of Israeli criticism, however, is not Scholz, but Abbas. Acting Prime Minister Lapid called the Palestinian President’s claim that Israel committed 50 holocausts not only “a moral disgrace but also a blatant lie”.
Defense Secretary Benny Gantz called Abbas’ words “contemptible and wrong”. His statement was an attempt to “distort and rewrite history”.
Abbas statement sparks political controversy
With his relativization of the Holocaust, Abbas has also sparked an inner-Israeli controversy. Gantz is at the center because he met with Abbas in July to coordinate security issues with him. You don’t do that with “Mother Teresa,” Gantz defends himself against the accusation of having negotiated with a Holocaust denier.
For the former prime minister and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, putting the Holocaust into perspective is a steep template in the election campaign. He urged Gantz and Lapid to “stop sucking up to this Holocaust denier.”
Netanyahu claimed that isolating the Palestinian leader during his reign was successful, leading to four historic peace deals with Arab states. He was referring to agreements that established diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco and initiated with Sudan.
Dani Dayan, head of the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, criticized the fact that Abbas’ statement was being used domestically to win votes. He accused the politicians of using the controversy to distinguish themselves.
Steinmeier is apparently considering a visit to Israel
The German-Israeli relationship is currently already burdened by another account verse. It is about the commemoration of the eleven Israeli athletes who were murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich 50 years ago.
The relatives of the victims want to boycott the memorial service because of a dispute over compensation. You describe the sum promised by Germany as “insulting”.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is considering flying to Israel to persuade the families of the victims of the Munich massacre to attend the commemoration ceremonies in Germany, Israeli media reports. With his trip he hopes to persuade the relatives of the terror victims and Israeli officials to take part in the memorial service, which is planned for September 5 in Munich.
More: Silence at the wrong moment: Scholz’ communication becomes a risk for his chancellorship