Why Mahmoud Abbas Will Get Away With Saying Hitler Wasn't Motivated By Anti-Semitism

In a speech last month to the Fatah Revolutionary Council, Palestinian Authority "President" Mahmoud Abbas claimed Hitler didn't kill Jews because he was motivated by anti-Semitism, but because of the behavior of Jewish bankers:

They say that Hitler killed the Jews because they were Jews and that Europe hated the Jews because they were Jews. Not true. It was clearly explained that [the Europeans] fought [the Jews] because of their social role, and not their religion,” Abbas said in August. “Several authors wrote about this. Even Karl Marx said this was not true. He said that the enmity was not directed at Judaism as a religion but to Judaism for its social role.

The [Europeans] fought against these people because of their role in society, which had to do with usury, money and so on and so forth.

Mind you most of the 6 million Jews who died under Hitler's watch had absolutely nothing to do with banking or finance. If Hitler's enmity was exclusively towards Jewish financiers, then why round up Jewish children and send them to their deaths? 

What Abbas is doing is justifying Hitler's behavior. For good measure, Abbas also falsely claimed Ashkenazi Jews aren't Semites. In saying this, Abbas is delegitimizing Jewish identity.

And he is going to get away with it.

For starters, Abbas has been getting away with it for years. Abbas pretty much said the same thing more than five years ago when he addressed the Palestinian National Council. While Abbas might claim Hitler wasn't motivated by anti-Semitism, he has no hesitation in comparing Israel to the Nazis as he did at the UN General Assembly last May. In August 2022, Abbas stated on German soil that Israel was responsible for "50 Holocausts". Four decades ago, Abbas wrote a doctoral thesis on alleged collaborations between Zionists and Nazis. 

However, at the moment, the main reason Abbas can get away with claiming Hitler didn't have anti-Semitic motivations is because the Biden Administration needs his blessing for peace talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia to proceed. This is evidenced by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's call to Abbas yesterday as well as U.S. and Palestinian officials traveling to Riyadh presumably to discuss what concessions the Palestinians want from Israel in order for normalization between the two countries to occur. 

Frankly, Mahmoud Abbas could declare that no Jew died at the hands of the Nazis, and it would not affect his standing with the United States or the international community one iota because they need him before he needs them.