The United States and the European Union have condemned the Palestinian president’s controversial statement on genocide.

The United States and the European Union (EU) condemned the Palestinian president’s statement on Thursday. Mahmood AbbasAbout the persecution of Jews in World War II and anti-Semitism.

In a statement, the EU diplomatic service said Abbas, 87, made statements in late August at a meeting of his Al Fatah movement’s Revolutionary Council. They are “wrong and very wrong.”

Deborah LipstadtThe US special envoy for monitoring and combating anti-Semitism called for an immediate apology from Abbas for what he called his “hateful and anti-Semitic comments”.

In his statements, The Palestinian president said Jews were targeted by Nazi Germany because of their “social role” and not because of their religion.

“This has been explained by many Jewish teachers. When they said that Hitler killed Jews because they were Jews and that Europe hated Jews because they were Jews, no. It was clearly explained that they fought (against Jews) for their social role, not for their religion,” Abbas said. .

The Palestinian president has often drawn international ire with his comments on the HolocaustAbout 6 million Jews were killed, as well as members of groups such as the Roma community, the disabled, and members of sexual and gender minorities.

In a statement, a foreign affairs spokesman for the European Union, a major donor to the Palestinian Authority, said the comments were “an insult to millions of Holocaust victims and their families”.

“Such historical distortions are incendiary, a deep offensive, will only serve to escalate tensions in the region and serve no one’s interests,” he said. And I add: They are playing into the hands of those who do not want the two-state solution that President Abbas has repeatedly advocated.

In addition, he asserted, “They trivialize the Holocaust, thereby fueling anti-Semitism and shame on the millions of Holocaust victims and their families.”

Finally, he noted that the EU is “committed to combating anti-Semitism and racism in all its forms and firmly opposes any attempt to condone, justify or trivialize the Holocaust”.

The Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-government in territory occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East War and where Palestinians seek to establish an independent state.

The German ambassador to Israel also condemned Abbas’s comments. Steffen SeibertIn a post on the X messaging platform, he said: “Palestinians deserve to hear the historical truth from their leader, not such distortions.”

During a visit to Berlin last year, Abbas was reprimanded by the German chancellor. Olaf SchallsAfter accusing Israel of committing “50 holocausts” in response to a question about the 50th anniversary of the attack on the Israeli team by Palestinian militants at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

During his two decades in power, Abbas has rejected repeated calls from Palestinians to step down.

(With information from Reuters)