EU slams Abbas for ‘unacceptable’ anti-Semitic rant

The European Union lambastes Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for an “unacceptable” speech he gave denigrating Jews to the Palestinian National Council on Monday.

A statement from the EU spokesperson says the address “contained unacceptable remarks concerning the origins of the Holocaust and Israel’s legitimacy.”

“Such rhetoric will only play into the hands of those who do not want a two-state solution, which President Abbas has repeatedly advocated,” the EU says.

“Holocaust education remains central to building up resilience against all forms of hatred in our societies. Antisemitism is not only a threat for Jews but a fundamental menace to our open and liberal societies,” the body adds.

Abbas touched on a number of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories during what he called a “history lesson,” as he sought to prove the 3,000-year-old Jewish connection to the Land of Israel is false.

He said his narrative was backed by three points made by Jewish writers and historians, the first being a theory often criticized as anti-Semitic that Ashkenazi Jews are not the descendants of the ancient Israelites.

He went on to claim that the Holocaust was not the result of anti-Semitism but rather of the Jews’ “social behavior, [charging] interest, and financial matters.”