BERLIN – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is facing intense pressure in Germany, which has shifted from official outrage over Holocaust-related statements that were interpreted as a denial of the Holocaust or a watered-down description of it, to a contentious investigation that presents multiple legal scenarios and raises the issue of immunity, given that Berlin is not among the countries that recognized the State of Palestine despite maintaining diplomatic relations.
On Friday, Berlin police announced the launch of an investigation into possible incitement to violence against Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who made contentious remarks during a news conference in the German capital about the Holocaust during World War II.
Following words he made Tuesday during a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the police received a complaint against Abbas for underestimating the Holocaust.
According to a police spokesperson, who confirmed media reports, the Special Directorate of the Judicial Police in Berlin has launched an investigation and intends to tell the Public Prosecution of its findings soon, so that the latter may determine whether or not to pursue this course.
In response to a question at the end of a joint press conference about whether Abbas would apologize on behalf of the Palestinian militants who carried out the 1972 hostage-taking operation at the Munich Olympics, which killed 11 Israeli athletes, the Palestinian Authority President avoided directly responding, instead comparing the current situation in the Palestinian territories. Since 1947, he claims Israel has committed fifty massacres, fifty Holocausts on Palestinians.
From 1947 to the present day, Israel has perpetrated 50 murders in fifty Palestinian communities, from Deir Yassin Qibiya through al-Tantura, Kafr Qassem, and others… 50 massacres, 50 Holocausts, and every day, there are killings at the hands of the Israeli army, he stated.
According to the German Foreign Ministry, the probe may be suspended since Mahmoud Abbas is supposed to be protected by diplomatic immunity while in Germany under international law.
He paid an official visit as a representative of the Palestinian Authority, even though Germany does not yet recognize the state of Palestine, State Department spokesman Christopher Burger said at a routine briefing.
However, Michael Kobesel, a criminal law expert, disputes the veracity of this idea. According to a legal expert who spoke to the publication Bild, Abbas does not have protection unless he is a representative of another nation.
More than 130 nations recognize the state of Palestine, but Germany, like other Western countries, does not, although Berlin has diplomatic contacts with the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Palestinian Authority’s spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, blasted the continued incitement campaign against President Mahmoud Abbas in remarks to AFP.
We believe that this effort targets the whole Palestinian national concept… as well as Palestinian constants and Palestinian interests, he added.
He emphasized that the president’s and Palestinian leadership’s opinions on all topics are clear and well known, and there is no need or justification for the incitement campaign.
Next his remarks during the press conference in Berlin, Abbas reaffirmed his views, emphasizing the following day that the Holocaust is the most horrible crime that has occurred in contemporary human history.
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