United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan today (Tuesday) met with Jewish leaders at the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
The WAM News Agency reported that Al Nahyan condemned the speech by Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas blaming the Jews for the Holocaust.
According to the report, the UAE Foreign Minister “condemned the irresponsible statements made by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas regarding Jews and the Nazi Holocaust.”
He reiterated the UAE's rejection of racism, bigotry, and hate speech.
In his speech last month, Abbas claimed that Hitler killed the Jews not because of their ethnicity, but because of their practices regarding money and finances.
"This is explained in many Jewish books," Abbas said. "They say that Hitler killed them because of their Jewishness. Not so. They (the Nazis) fought them because of their social role and not because of their religion." He also said: "Hitler fought the Jews because they dealt in usury and money."
Abbas also repeated the debunked 'Khazar myth' that Jews from Europe are not really Jews and made similarly false claims about the exodus of Jews from Arab and Muslim countries during the 20th Century.