Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud AbbasReuters

In a statement, which has become rare since leaving the position of prime minister, Alternate Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is calling out Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas on his antisemitic comments.

"As prime minister, I refused to meet Abu Mazen (Abbas - ed.) or to proceed in any negotiations with him, even under internal and external pressure. A 'partner' who denies the Holocaust, persecutes our soldiers in the Hague, and pays salaries for terrorists, is not a partner," the former Yamina chair wrote on social media.

As previously reported, Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of committing multiple "holocausts" against the Palestinian Authority Arabs during a speech alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin Tuesday.

Abbas dismissed a question over whether he would apologize for the Munich Massacre and said: "I have 50 slaughters that Israel committed….50 massacres, 50 slaughters, 50 holocausts."

Opposition leader and former prime minister MK Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud) also used social media to call out the PA chairman, taking a more political approach. In a tweet shared by Netanyahu, the Likud party wrote: "Abu Mazen's (Abbas -ed.) Holocaust denial is shocking and dangerous, and [Prime Minister Yair] Lapid and [Defense Minister Benny] Gantz's (National Unity) obsessive cooperation with Abu Mazen and his successors is no less dangerous. Only the Likud will create a stable government that doesn't rely on Abu Mazen's support."

Other figures in the government also criticized Abbas. Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar (National Unity) stated: "Abu Mazen's words are a disgrace. They are part of the Palestinian institutional propaganda, which is based on blood libels, with 50 shades of antisemitism. Its purpose is to delegitimize Israel."

Defense Minister Benny Gantz wrote: "Abu Mazen's words are despicable and false. His statement is an attempt to distort and rewrite history. The reprehensible and unfounded comparison between the Holocaust, which was carried out by the German Nazis and their enablers in an attempt to exterminate the Jewish people - and the IDF, which ensured the rise of the Jewish people in their homeland, and defends the citizens of Israel and the country’s sovereignty against brutal terrorism - is Holocaust denial. Those who seek peace are expected to acknowledge the past and not distort reality and rewrite history. We will continue to learn from history, including its dark and terrible parts, strive for peace, and defend the security and resilience of the Jewish people."

Members of the government also criticized the Defense Minister, who met with the Arab leader on multiple occasions and even hosted him at his home in Rosh Ha'ayin. Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked wrote (Zionist Spirit) responded, "Abu Mazen is fighting IDF soldiers in the Hague and is denying the Holocaust in Germany. We can't legitimize him, and we certainly can't invite him to Rosh Ha'ayin."