Palestinian Leader Accused Israel of ‘50 Holocausts,’ Causing an Uproar

Facing international condemnation, the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, later walked back the remarks he had made at a news conference in Berlin.

JERUSALEM — The Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, accused Israel of carrying out “50 Holocausts” of Palestinians as he stood alongside the German chancellor in Berlin, then walked the comments back on Wednesday in the face of an international outcry from leaders and officials who denounced the remarks as antisemitic Holocaust denial.

Mr. Abbas, the 87-year-old president of the Palestinian Authority, was speaking during a joint news conference with Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany on Tuesday night. The comment that caused the uproar was a response to a reporter who asked Mr. Abbas if he was ready to apologize for the killings of 11 Israeli athletes by the Palestinian Black September group at the Munich Olympics in 1972.

Germany is planning to mark the 50th anniversary of the Munich terrorist attack in the fall.

Mr. Abbas replied that Israel had committed 50 massacres in Palestinian-populated areas from 1947 until today, adding for emphasis, “50 massacres; 50 Holocausts,” using the English term for the Nazi genocide during World War II.

Mr. Abbas has been accused of antisemitism and Holocaust distortion more than once before and under his leadership of the Palestinians, peace talks with Israel have been stalled for years. The Israeli public has long since ceased to view him as a peace partner.

Nonetheless, he and his forces maintain a tight system of security coordination with Israel and Israeli officials have credited Mr. Abbas with tamping down violence. But Mr. Abbas has also lost favor with much of the Palestinian public, viewed as increasingly authoritarian and out of touch. He has avoided holding presidential elections and is now in the 18th year of what was supposed to be a four-year term.

In Berlin on Tuesday night, Mr. Scholz grimaced when Mr. Abbas made his remarks, according to local media reports from the scene, but did not immediately upbraid or contradict the Palestinian leader and the news conference was brought to a swift end.

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Soon after, the German chancellor strongly condemned Mr. Abbas’s words and on Wednesday morning, he tweeted in English, German and Hebrew to say he was “disgusted by the outrageous remarks made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.”

He went on to say: “For us Germans in particular, any relativization of the singularity of the Holocaust is intolerable and unacceptable. I condemn any attempt to deny the crimes of the Holocaust.”