In an unusual move, the main Palestinian lobby group in Germany condemned remarks by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas about the Holocaust which it called “anti-Semitic.”
The German-Palestinian Society, or DPG, in a statement Tuesday said it “dissociates itself clearly and unequivocally” from the remarks by the Palestinian Authority president.
Speaking Monday in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Abbas said that Jews caused the Holocaust with their “social behavior,” such as money lending. He also said that Jews do not have a historical connection to the land.
“To suggest that Jews in some way share a responsibility for the Holocaust is a grotesque distortion of historical facts,” DPG wrote in its statement. “The claim that the Jewish people have no roots in the Holy Land is equally erroneous,” the statement read. It called Abbas’ address a “speech riddled with anti-Semitic remarks.
JTA