Analysis | Abbas Got It Wrong, but Was Quick to Correct Himself: On Double Standards

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas holds a joint press conference with the German Chancellor at the Chancellery in Berlin, Tuesday.Credit: Jens Schlueter / AFP

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ statement that Israel had committed “50 Holocausts,” made during a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday, upset the chancellor and the Israeli public – as well as Abbas’ closest advisers.

His aides were quick to realize that the 87-year-old president hadn’t given much thought to his use of the term “Holocaust,” much less in front of the German chancellor and on German soil, and that Israel would be quick to leverage his remark for public relations purposes to influence global opinion. They also realized they had failed to sufficiently prepare the president for the press conference, at which German journalists predictably flooded the leaders with questions about the Holocaust and the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

 
Israel’s public diplomacy machine and Israeli politicians’ exploitation of the incident for campaign purposes combined to boost Abbas into the headlines. The Israeli responses quickly followed, from Prime Minister Yair Lapid down to the last Knesset member. Phrases like “Holocaust denier,” “there is no partner” and “his true face has been revealed” recurred in almost every press statement and tweet by elected politicians.

Mahmoud Abbas accusing Israel of having committed "50 Holocausts" while standing on German soil is not only a moral disgrace, but a monstrous lie.

Six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, including one and a half million Jewish children.

History will never forgive him.

— יאיר לפיד - Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) August 16, 2022

Every day, Abbas’ office puts out statements and messages about the Palestinian Authority’s desire to promote a diplomatic solution, but these don’t interest Israelis. His remark on Tuesday fell on Israel like manna from heaven. Just a few days ago, Israel was on the public relations defensive due to pictures of civilians killed during its recent operation in the Gaza Strip. But now, all the fire is being aimed at Abbas.

Abbas’ office received quite a few protests and demands for clarification, especially from senior European officials. According to Israeli sources, Defense Minister Benny Gantz also demanded clarifications and an apology.

Abbas’ aides immediately began damage control. Palestinians said his aides had been asked to prepare a clarification even before demands for one began arriving. That statement was issued on Wednesday, one day after the original remark, in both Hebrew and English.

 
It stressed that his remark “was not intended to deny the singularity of the Holocaust.” It also said “the Holocaust is the most heinous crime in modern human history,” adding that Abbas condemned it “in the strongest terms.”

 
“What is meant by the crimes that President Mahmoud Abbas spoke about,” the statement continued, “are the crimes and massacres committed against the Palestinian people since the Nakba at the hands of the Israeli forces. These crimes have not stopped to this day.”

 
This message was transmitted in direct conversations with Western diplomats as well.

 
Moral double standard

 
But Abbas’ aides also sought to convey another message – that the eagerness with which Europeans and Americans denounced the Palestinian president’s remark once again proved their moral double standard with regard to events in the West Bank and Gaza.

 
“We agree that Abu Mazen made a mistake with this remark,” one senior PA official said, referring to Abbas by his nickname. “But at the same time, and without comparing the two, neither he nor any Palestinian leader or citizen can ignore a reality in which the Palestinian issue isn’t on the agenda – not the international one, not the Arab one and not the Israeli one.”

 
“Lapid and Gantz are continuing the policy set by Naftali Bennett before them, under which two issues are discussed with the Palestinians, security and civil affairs, but without any steps that would have diplomatic significance,” he added, referring to Lapid’s predecessor as prime minister. And the Israeli response over the past day merely bolsters that assessment, he said.

 
Palestinian officials increasingly think Lapid and Gantz have no diplomatic vision and don’t intend to launch any diplomatic initiative – not now, and certainly not after the Israeli election in November. Otherwise, they said, there’s no way to explain the visits that the head of the Shin Bet security service regularly pays to Abbas’ home and office, both openly and secretly. The same is true of Gantz’s meetings with Abbas.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz.Credit: THAER GHANAIM MENAHEM KAHANA - AFP

The Palestinian president has insisted on continuing security coordination with Israel even though Palestinian national institutions have made an official decision to halt it. But Israel prefers to leave this out of the conversation.

 
If Abbas erred in his terminology, he was quick to correct it. But Israel doesn’t intend to correct the injustices it causes the Palestinians every day. True, it’s possible to get hung up over a controversial remark about history. But real leaders learn from history and offer a vision for the future.