Statements by Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who compared Israel’s actions against Palestinians to the Holocaust, attracted the attention of Berlin police. A specialized unit of the German Metropolitan Criminal Department (LKA) has launched a preliminary investigation into the “initial suspicion” of inciting ethnic hatred (Article 130 of the German Penal Code), a Berlin police spokeswoman told Bild newspaper on Friday. Monday, August 19th. .

In response to a newspaper inquiry, the German Foreign Ministry said Abbas would be entitled to immunity from prosecution because he was in Germany on an “official visit”. Meanwhile, a professor at the University of Augsburg, specialist in criminal law Michael Kubiciel noted that Abbas’ presence in Berlin at the invitation of the German government is not a decisive factor in obtaining immunity. More important is whether he visited the RFA as a “representative of another state”. So the question of “whether or not Palestine is a state is of decisive importance,” Kubicil said. Germany does not recognize Palestine as a state.

anti-Semitic scandal

Mahmoud Abbas’ words at a joint press conference with Olaf Scholz in Berlin and the Federal Chancellor’s reaction caused a scandal. When asked if Abbas would like to apologize on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the bloody attack by Palestinian terrorists on the Israeli team at the Munich Olympics, he said: “Israel from 1947 until today has committed 50 massacres in 50 Palestinian settlements. 50 massacres, 50 holocausts.” .

The press conference ended there, and Scholz did not immediately respond to Abbas in public and even shook his hand. The chancellor reacted just hours later, saying in an interview with Bild: “It is for us Germans that any relativization of the Holocaust is intolerable and unacceptable.” However, his late reaction, as well as Abbas’ outrageous comments, provoked strong criticism in Germany and the world.