100 Palestinian scholars slam Abbas’ antisemitic Holocaust remarks

“We adamantly reject any attempt to diminish, misrepresent, or justify antisemitism, Nazi crimes against humanity, or historical revisionism.”

By World Israel News Staff

Over a hundred Palestinian scholars have denounced the “ignorant and reprehensible” antisemitic canards made by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas regarding the Holocaust and Ashkenazi Jews’ origins.

In an open letter circulated on Sunday, signatories from various backgrounds including academics, writers, artists, and activists — predominantly based in the U.S. and Europe — slammed Abbas’s “morally and politically reprehensible comments,” The Times of Israel reported.

The group slammed Abbas for distorting historical facts about the Holocaust, asserting, “Rooted in a racial theory widespread in European culture and science at the time, the Nazi genocide of the Jewish people was born of antisemitism, fascism, and racism. We adamantly reject any attempt to diminish, misrepresent, or justify antisemitism, Nazi crimes against humanity, or historical revisionism vis-a-vis the Holocaust.”

Abbas, whose doctoral dissertation is on Holocaust denial, had ignited controversy at the Fatah party’s Revolutionary Council, proposing an unfounded theory – and classic antisemitic canard – that Ashkenazi Jews descend not from Israelites but an ancient tribe called the Khazars, and ergo cannot be Semites. He further alleged that Hitler persecuted Jews not for their religion but their “social role” related to “usury, money and so on and so forth.”

In response to the substantial backlash, including being stripped of a ceremonial medal by the mayor of Paris, Abbas’s spokesperson, Nabil Abu Rudeineh clarified last Thursday that Abbas’s discourse comprised “academic and historical quotations” from unidentified Jewish and American authors. Despite being a terrorist supporter himself, Rudeineh maintained that Abbas stands firmly against the Nazi Holocaust and antisemitism.

The open letter also criticized the impact of Abbas’s remarks on the Palestinian cause, expressing concern that such “ignorant and profoundly antisemitic narratives” are detrimental to Palestinians already grappling with “Israeli settler colonialism” and “occupation.” The signatories also condemned the growing authoritarian tendencies under the Palestinian Authority, led by Abbas since 2005, and highlighted its “increasingly authoritarian and draconian rule.”

Abbas’s regime, they noted, has outlived its mandate by nearly a decade and a half, losing legitimacy due to support from “Western and pro-Israel forces” seeking to uphold “Israeli apartheid.”