OPINION:
Thank you for Clifford D. May’s op-ed “Why Mahmoud Abbas can’t make peace with Israelis” (web, Sept. 12), exposing the Palestinian Authority president’s antisemitic speech last month.
In his Aug. 24 address, Mr. Abbas both attempted to justify the Holocaust and delegitimize Israel. He also falsely claimed that Jews in Europe were not victims of antisemitism, but rather were hated by “even Hitler” because of their “social function.”
In effect, he blamed the Holocaust on its Jewish victims. In fact, Nazi Germany demonized Jews as a malign race and targeted every Jewish man, woman and child for extermination solely because they were Jews.
Abbas also falsely claimed that “European Jews are not Semites” (i.e., not indigenous to the Middle East), presumably to discredit Israel’s right to exist. This, too, is false, as DNA studies confirm European Jews’ ancestral ties to the Levant.
Mr. May’s column is important because the media largely failed to report Mr. Abbas’ vile falsehoods. The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, for instance, made no mention of his speech in their respective print editions.
Mr. Abbas has a long history of antisemitism and Holocaust denial. Nearly 40 years ago, his book “The Other Side” mocked the Holocaust as “the Zionist fantasy, the fantastic lie that six million Jews were killed.” In 2018, he made a speech similar to his rant last month.
Yet for decades, the media have disingenuously portrayed Mr. Abbas as a peace-seeking moderate. And despite the Palestinians’ violently rejection of Israel’s peace proposals in 2000, 2001 and 2008, Israel is unfairly blamed for the failure of all peace efforts. By implication, Palestinian terrorism is justified.
Mr. Abbas is a hatemonger, not a peace-seeker. He must be held accountable.
STEPHEN A. SILVER
San Francisco
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