Americans for Peace Now (APN) strongly condemns the blatantly antisemitic remarks by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, which were published yesterday.

Abbas spoke on August 26th in Ramallah at a conference of Fatah, the Palestinian faction he chairs. In his speech, Abbas repeated antisemitic canards, including the claim that Hitler and the Nazis persecuted the Jews because of their’ role in society as moneylenders. He further claimed that the Zionist movement initiated violent anti-Jewish attacks in Arab countries after Israel was created in order to force their Jewish population to emigrate to Israel. 

We strongly condemn these remarks. They are wrong and they do a disservice to efforts to advance peace between Israelis and Palestinians.