“Abbas’ Mendacious Allegations Are Worrisome”

By Sandro De Bernardin*

“As Chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, I was dismayed and very worried by the comments made by Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, on 2 May in which he used antisemitic stereotypes in public discourse, falsely claiming that the Holocaust was a result of Jews’ “social function” and purported association with loans and banking.

Making mendacious allegations about Jews controlling the economy is one of the typical examples of antisemitic stereotypes denounced in the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism. Attempts to blame the Jews for causing their own genocide is a clear case of Holocaust distortion as spelt out in the IHRA Working Definition of Holocaust Denial and Distortion.

These comments make the importance of IHRA’s mission to safeguard the record of the Holocaust and to counter Holocaust distortion even more evident.

The international community must uphold the terrible truth of the Holocaust against those who deny it. We must strengthen the moral commitment of our peoples, and the political commitment of our governments, to ensure that future generations can understand the causes of the Holocaust and reflect upon its consequences.”

*Sandro De Bernardin is an Ambassador and the IHRA Chair. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance unites governments and experts to strengthen, advance and promote Holocaust education, remembrance and research worldwide and to uphold the commitments of the 2000 Stockholm Declaration.