Riyad al-Maliki, the Palestinian Authority (PA) official in charge of foreign affairs, on Thursday visited Germany where he stopped by the Holocaust memorial in Berlin.
“On the occasion of the visit of SE Dr. Riyad Malki in Berlin, we remembered the victims of the most heinous crime in human history,” Laith Arafeh, the PA envoy to Germany, wrote on Twitter following the visit.
Maliki’s visit comes three months after PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of committing “holocausts” against Palestinian Arabs during a meeting in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Abbas used the English word "holocausts" when responding to a question regarding the Munich Massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic games by Palestinian Arab terrorists.
The PA chairman dismissed a question over whether he would apologize for the massacre and said: “I have 50 slaughters that Israel committed….50 massacres, 50 slaughters, 50 holocausts.”
Chancellor Scholz was visibly upset at Abbas' remarks and scowled. He did not respond at the time, but later said that hearing the word from Abbas was "unbearable."
Abbas was condemned for the comments by Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who said, “Mahmoud Abbas accusing Israel of having committed ‘50 Holocausts’ while standing on German soil is not only a moral disgrace, but a monstrous lie.”
“Six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, including one and a half million Jewish children. History will never forgive him,” he added.
Germany’s ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, also condemned the PA chairman and tweeted, “What President Abbas said in Berlin about ‘50 holocausts’ is wrong and unacceptable.”
“Germany will never stand for any attempt to deny the singular dimension of the crimes of the Holocaust,” stressed Seibert.
A statement from Abbas' office later clarified that he "reiterates and emphasizes that the Holocaust was the most abominable crime that occurred in humanity's modern history."
In the wake of the comments, German police opened an investigation against Abbas over Holocaust denial, which is a criminal offense in Germany.