Middle East Monitor / November 22, 2022
The Public Prosecutor in Berlin has dropped a lawsuit against Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the PA Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday evening. Abbas had allegedly “denied the Holocaust”, which is a crime in Germany.
“The Attorney General of the State of Berlin decided that the president’s only goal [when he mentioned the Holocaust] was to shed light on what he considers crimes committed by the Israeli army against [the Palestinian] people and the injustice they are subjected to,” explained PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki.
The German police opened an investigation against the PA leader in August following a statement in which he compared Israel’s practices against the Palestinian people to the Nazi Holocaust.
“Since 1947,” said Abbas, “Israel has committed 50 massacres, 50 massacres… 50 holocausts.” He made his comment during a press conference in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, angering the latter as well as officials in Israel, and later backtracked from the remark.
No official German statement was issued regarding the fate of the case against Abbas.
