JERUSALEM (NYTIMES) - 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 (Aug 17) in the face of international outcry from leaders and officials who denounced the remarks as antisemitic Holocaust denial.
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 Abbas if he was ready to apologise 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 autumn.
Abbas replied that Israel has 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.
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.
In Berlin on Tuesday night, Scholz grimaced when Abbas made his remarks, according to local media reports from the scene.
The German chancellor did not however immediately upbraid or contradict the Palestinian leader, and the news conference was brought to a swift end.
Soon after, Scholz strongly condemned Abbas' 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".
The Palestinian leader issued a clarification of his remarks later on Wednesday that was carried by the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa.
It did not include an explicit apology but said that Abbas reaffirmed that the Holocaust "is the most heinous crime in modern human history" and said his remarks in Berlin were "not intended to deny the singularity of the Holocaust".
The clarifying statement went on to say that Abbas had been referring to "the crimes and massacres committed against the Palestinian people" at the hands of Israeli forces over the past 75 years.
"These crimes have not stopped to this day," it said.
