BICOM

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has been widely condemned for an antisemitic speech to the  Palestinian National Council (PNC) conference on Monday night.

Abbas told the delegates that Jews caused the Holocaust with their “social behaviour,” such as money lending and financial interests. He said European Jews do not have a historical connection to the land, arguing that the State of Israel was formed as “a colonial project that has nothing to do with Judaism” to safeguard European interests.

Abbas, who named his speech a “history lesson,” also referred to an agreement whereby the Nazis facilitated the immigration of Jews to Israel by reaching a deal with the Anglo-Palestine Bank (today Bank Leumi) under which Jews who moved to the British Mandate of Palestine could transfer all their assets there through the bank. Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt told the Times of Israel that Abbas’s speech was “classic antisemitism and blame the victim”.

Abbas also criticised the US administration, saying the President’s “deal of the century” and his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is “the end of the peace process” and his PA “will accept neither this deal nor the US as mediator”.

Jason Greenblatt, US President Trump’s diplomatic envoy and Special Representative for International Negotiations said on twitter: “President Abbas’ remarks yesterday in Ramallah at the opening of the Palestinian National Congress must be unconditionally condemned by all. They are very unfortunate, very distressing & terribly disheartening. Peace cannot be built on this kind of foundation.”

Jonathan A. Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said in response that: “The Palestinian President’s latest diatribe reflects once again the depth and persistency of the anti-Semitic attitudes he harbors. With public speeches like these, it is not surprising that under Abbas’ leadership, the Palestinian Authority has failed to renounce and combat Palestinian antisemitic incitement, including narratives that Jews are to blame for the Holocaust and other antisemitic persecution, and which deny or diminish the millennial Jewish presence in and connection to the Land of Israel.”

The PNC is the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and elects the PLO’s Executive Committee, which makes decisions on all Palestinian issues. New members are expected to be elected to the council during its three-day meeting. The average age of council representatives is 70.

The meeting was the first time Abbas has reconvened the PNC for since 2006. It was boycotted by several Palestinian Islamist fractions, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad that comprise 100 of the Council’s 740 total membership.