Citing ‘diplomatic immunity,’ Germany drops Abbas Holocaust hate speech case

On a visit to Germany in 2022, Abbas compared the State of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians since 1948 to ’50 holocausts.’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

German prosecutors announced on Monday that they have dropped a potential charge of “inciting hatred” against Palestinian Mahmoud Abbas because they claim he has “diplomatic immunity.”

Berlin police launched a probe into Mahmoud Abbas’ remarks in Germany after a 2022 press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during which Abbas compared the State of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians since 1948 to “50 holocausts.”

Although Palestine is not a country, Germany’s Attorney General said that diplomatic immunity extends to Mahmoud Abbas, who is considered to be a political leader.

However, the statement from the German AG was not accompanied by a denial that Abbas had violated German laws against “inciting hatred” by denying or relativizing the Holocaust.

Prosecutors declared in a statement, “Abbas had committed the crime of inciting racial hatred” but enjoyed “immunity so that there is an obstacle to him being tried.”

Abbas attempted to walk back the remark later by issuing a statement declaring that the Holocaust was “the most heinous crime in modern human history.”

After receiving widespread criticism for not immediately reacting to Abbas’ incendiary statements, Chancellor Scholz, leader of the center-left Social Democratic Party, posted on X that he “was disgusted by the outrageous remarks made by Palestinian President Mahmoud #Abbas.”

Scholz added, “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.”

Mike Delberg, who is head of social media for the center-right Christian Democratic Party, filed charges against Abbas, accusing him of  “trivializing and relativizing the most terrible time in the history of our country and the history of my family and faith community.”

Although German prosecutors are dismissing the case on the grounds of Mahmoud Abbas’ “diplomatic immunity,” Delberg says he considers an outcome “a small win,” because Abbas “was officially called an inciter of hate.”

antisemitic hate speechHolocaust denialIsrael-Germany relationsMahmoud Abbas