The Representative Office of Canada to the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Friday joined in on the condemnation of PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ recent antisemitic speech.
“We strongly condemn the inflammatory and antisemitic comments made by President Abbas. These remarks distort the historical truth of the Holocaust and promote classic and contemporary tropes of Jew-hatred,” the office wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
In Abbas’ speech, the PA chairman claimed that Jews are not Semites and that Adolf Hitler only killed Jews "because they dealt in usury and money".
On Thursday, US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Deborah Lipstadt condemned Abbas’ remarks.
"I am appalled by President Abbas’ hateful, antisemitic remarks at a recent Fatah meeting. The speech maligned the Jewish people, distorted the Holocaust, and misrepresented the tragic exodus of Jews from Arab countries. I condemn these statements and urge an immediate apology," Lipstadt wrote on X.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) also blasted Abbas’ speech, writing on X, "I strongly condemn Palestinian President Abbas's recent comments, which egregiously distort the horrors of the Holocaust and repeat false tropes about Jews."
"His remarks add fuel to the fire at a time when antisemitism and violence against the community are so alarmingly on the rise," he added.
On Friday, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo stripped Abbas of the French capital's highest honor due to the speech.
Abbas could no longer hold the Grand Vermeil medal after he "justified the extermination of the Jews of Europe" in World War II, Hidalgo’s office told AFP.
Meanwhile, Abbas’ spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh defended Abbas, claiming the PA chairman was only quoting Jewish, American, and other historians and authors in his speech, though he did not say which historians Abbas allegedly based his claims on.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)