Abbas must face real consequences for his antisemitic remarks - opinion

In protest against Mahmoud Abbas’s latest antisemitic speech, the mayor of Paris has revoked a medal that the city once gave to the Palestinian Authority chairman. But at the same time, the mayor emphasized that Paris will maintain its “partner” relationship with PA-controlled cities such as Jenin, a notorious terrorist haven.

Gestures, such as revoking a medal, have their value. But actual consequences are much more important. 

Unfortunately, when it comes to Palestinian Arab antisemitism, the international community typically responds with symbolic gestures – or complete silence – rather than actual consequences. And it should be clear by now that symbolic gestures have no impact on Abbas and his comrades.

 In his latest antisemitic tirade, Abbas justified the Holocaust, arguing that Hitler “fought [the Jews] because of their social role, and not their religion… their role in society, which had to do with usury, money, and so on.” 

He also resurrected an old antisemitic myth, claiming most Jews are not really Jewish, but are actually descended from the Khazars, a medieval Asian tribe: “So when we hear them talk about Semitism and antisemitism – the Ashkenazi Jews, at least, are not Semites.” And he perpetrated a blood libel against David Ben-Gurion, declaring that Jews in Iraq “did not want to emigrate, but they were forced to do so [by Ben-Gurion], by means of pressure, coercion, and murder.” (Translation courtesy of MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute).

Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the Biden administration’s envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, demanded “an immediate apology” from Abbas. Even the pro-Palestinian group J Street declared that Abbas “should make an immediate apology.”

But instead of apologizing, Abbas has doubled down. The PA’s news agency, WAFA, issued a statement from Abbas’s spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, defending Abbas’s speech, claiming that it “was a quotation from writings of Jewish, American, and other historians and authors.” (He did not name any of those alleged historians or authors.) 

Abbas’s spokesman also dismissed all criticism of his antisemitic tirade: “We express our strong condemnation and outrage at this frenzied campaign for just quoting academic and historical quotations,” Abu Rudeineh said in Abbas’s name.

There’s a Hebrew expression that translates as “I’ve seen this movie already.” Every once in a while, one of Abbas’s antisemitic rants leaks to the Western press; officials and organizations condemn him and demand an apology; he refuses to apologize; and there are no consequences – so of course he does it again.

In May 2018, Abbas gave the opening address at a conference of the PLO’s Palestine National Council. He said, among other things, that Jews living in Europe had suffered since the 11th century “not because of their religion, [but] it was because of their social profession – so the Jewish issue that had spread against the Jews across Europe was not because of their religion, it was because of usury and banks.”

J Street “strongly condemned” Abbas for his “absurd antisemitic tropes and deeply offensive comments.” Yet Abbas’s antisemitism did not change J Street’s policies one iota. J Street kept lobbying for the creation of a “State of Palestine” headed by that purveyor of “absurd antisemitic tropes and deeply offensive comments.”

Indeed, J Street’s main problem with Abbas’s antisemitic statements, to judge by its press release, was that they “distract from the need for international action” to “advance the two-state solution.” In other words, his pesky antisemitism keeps getting in the way of giving him a state.

During a visit to Berlin in August 2022, Abbas publicly accused Israel of carrying out “50 Holocausts against Palestinians.” 

Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt called that statement “unacceptable” and warned that it could “have dangerous consequences and fuels antisemitism.” And she was right – antisemitic statements by the head of the Palestinian Authority encourage antisemitism among the Palestinian Arab masses. And sometimes that antisemitism is expressed through violence against Jews.

J Street not only “strongly condemned” Abbas’s statement in Berlin, but it also called for “an immediate and unreserved apology.” Of course, no such apology was forthcoming. And once again, the lack of an apology did not diminish J Street’s fervent lobbying for Abbas’s cause.

If US officials, Jewish organizations, or the mayor of Paris, are serious about combating Palestinian antisemitism, they need to impose genuine sanctions, not just revoke a medal or demand an apology that will never be given.

Instead, steps like these should be taken :

• American Jewish and Zionist organizations should announce that they will no longer meet with any representatives of the Palestinian Authority.

• Mayors of European cities that have partnerships with PA cities should suspend those partnerships.

• The Biden administration should stop paying the PA’s bills. The US is giving the Palestinian Arabs $650 million this year. US law prevents the money from going directly to the PA (so long as the PA pays salaries to terrorists), so the funds are sent to non-government projects that the PA would otherwise pay for – in effect, the Biden administration is paying the PA’s bills. That should stop.

Until there are meaningful sanctions such as these, Abbas will have no incentive to halt his antisemitic rantings.

The writer is president of the Religious Zionists of America (RZA). He is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995, and the author of A Father’s Story: My Fight for Justice Against Iranian Terror. Note: The RZA is not affiliated with any American or Israeli political party.