Mahmoud Abbas
President, Palestinian Authority
Accused Israel of “50 Holocausts” and recast Hitler’s motive as economic.
What happened
At a 2022 Berlin press conference, asked about the 1972 Munich attack, Abbas accused Israel of committing “50 Holocausts” against Palestinians. In 2023 he claimed Hitler’s persecution of European Jews was about their “social role” in finance, not antisemitism.
“50 massacres, 50 Holocausts.”
Under each definition
Example 10 (comparing Israel to the Nazis via “50 Holocausts”) and example 5 (distorting the Holocaust by recasting Hitler’s motive).
Guideline 5: minimizing and distorting the Holocaust. Antisemitic on its face.
Holocaust distortion is core antisemitism even under Nexus’s Israel-aware lens.
Demonization (a Nazi comparison) arguably applies, though it is aimed at the state rather than Jews as such.
Who called it antisemitic
Germany’s government (with Chancellor Scholz standing beside him); Israel; Holocaust scholars worldwide.
The defense
Abbas’s office later said he did not mean to deny the Holocaust, which he called “the most heinous crime in history.”
Outcome
Broad international condemnation; the German government distanced itself and considered legal review of the Berlin remarks.
In their words
I am disgusted by the outrageous remarks made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. For us Germans in particular, any relativization of the singularity of the Holocaust is intolerable and unacceptable.
The speech maligned the Jewish people, distorted the Holocaust, and misrepresented the tragic exodus of Jews from Arab countries. I condemn these statements and urge an immediate apology.
[The reference] was not intended to deny the singularity of the Holocaust that occurred in the last century.
The verdicts above are how each framework would most likely treat this case — illustrative guidance, not official rulings. The 3D test applies only to Israel-related cases, so it reads “N/A” elsewhere. See the Definition tab for each framework’s full text. Inclusion is documentation, not a finding.