Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein slammed Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas for his anti-Semitic speech in Ramallah, during which he claimed that the Holocaust was due to Jewish “social behavior relating to interest and banks.”
"The anti-Semite is out of the bag," said Edelstein in response. "[Abbas], a small and irrelevant man, reveals in his last days as head of the Palestinian Authority what he really thinks of the State of Israel and the Jews.”
"The man, who finances the families of terrorists who massacred and continue to massacre us, will go down in history as a Holocaust denier, a racist and an inciter - if at all," added the Knesset Speaker.
On Tuesday, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman slammed Abbas, asserting that he had reached “a new low.”
“[Abbas] has reached a new low in attributing the cause of massacres of Jewish people over the years to their ‘social behavior relating to interest and banks.’ To all those who think Israel is the reason that we don't have peace, think again,” tweeted Friedman.
Jason Greenblatt, the US Special Representative for International Negotiations, also criticized Abbas’ remarks.
“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,” he tweeted.