Foreign

GERMAN officials continued to express their outrage on Wednesday at statements by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, comparing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to the Holocaust.

The new German ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, said Abbas’ statements were “wrong and unacceptable.

“Germany will never stand for any attempt to deny the singular dimension of the crimes of the Holocaust,’’ he wrote in English on Twitter.

Seibert had been a long-time spokesperson for former chancellor, Angela Merkel before being appointed ambassador.

Germany’s current chancellor, Olaf Scholz, reiterated on Twitter on Wednesday that he was angered by Abbas’ intolerable statements.

Abbas on Tuesday accused Israel of committing a holocaust against Palestinians during a Berlin news conference with Scholz in Berlin.

Abbas said that “Israel has committed 50 massacres in 50 Palestinian locations since 1947.” He then added “50 massacres, 50 Holocausts.”

Abbas’s remarks were in response to a journalist, who asked whether he would apologise to Israel on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the attack by Palestinian terrorists.

The attack on the Israel team during the 1972 Olympics in Munich resulted in the death of 10 Israeli athletes and coaches as well as one German police officer.

Scholz listened to Abbas’ response with a look of alarm and annoyance but did not offer an immediate reply, provoking criticism from the conservative opposition.

His spokesperson, Steffen Hebestreit declared the news conference over immediately after Abbas’ answer, which had been previously announced as the last question. (Dpa/NAN)

A.I

Tags: Abbas Holocaust Angela Merkel Olaf Scholz President Mahmoud Abbas Steffen Hebestreit Steffen Seibert