Olaf Scholz
“[He] downplayed the most terrible time in the history of our country, and in the history of my family and religious community,” said Mike Delberg, who filed a complaint against the Palestinian Authority leader.
Palestinian leader “demonstrates his deep-seated anti-Semitism,” said leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
In a statement released Wednesday morning, Abbas called the Holocaust “the most heinous crime in modern human history.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid it was important that he clarify to Lapid personally his stance on the Palestinian leader’s accusation.
In response to the uproar, the Palestinian Authority head clarifies that he was referring to “crimes and massacres committed against the Palestinian people since the ‘Nakba’ at the hands of the Israeli forces.”
The mention of the word “Holocausts” drew a grimace from Scholz but no denunciation.
Unlike most other Western countries, Israel has maintained open lines of communication with Russian President Vladimir Putin while also supporting Ukraine during the Russian onslaught.
The Israeli leader said that the German chancellor’s visit, which comes amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine as well as Germany and other world powers are engaged in talks with Iran over its nuclear program, comes at a “very fateful and sensitive time.”
The visit is part of the German chancellor’s first official visit to the Jewish state.
The two leaders emphasized the necessity of strong ties between Jerusalem and Berlin, agreeing to continue deepening economic, diplomatic and security efforts.
The choice of the 40-year-old Green Party member leaves analysts and the media unsure over effects on the domestic Jewish community, anti-Semitism and Israel policy, among other things.
“We now have a culture minister who is a close friend of the Iranians and who has bowed her head wearing a headscarf in front of the mullah regime, in addition to being a supporter of the boycotters of Israel,” said Sacha Stawski, head of the pro-Israel watchdog group Honestly Concerned.
