A couple of days ago, I made the case that Mahmoud Abbas would get away with justifying the Nazis genocide of Jews during WWII because the U.S. needs his blessing for a peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
However, Abbas has received a backlash in some quarters. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced that she had revoked Abbas' honorary citizenship known as La médaille Grand Vermeil de Paris because he expressed "a clear desire to deny the genocide to which the Jewish populations of Europe were victims at the hands of the Nazi regime."
Although Hidalgo's actions are to be welcomed, it begs the question as to why she bestowed Abbas with the honor in the first place eight years ago this month in the first place. After all, Abbas has engaged in Holocaust denial going back at least four decades.
At the very least one could ask why Hidalgo didn't strip Abbas of the honor sooner. Abbas made nearly identical remarks to the ones he made last month more than five years ago.
Is it possible Hidalgo was unaware of Abbas' previous statements? Possibly, but I would bet against it.
My questions notwithstanding, Hidalgo nevertheless did the right thing today. Abbas' comments minimizing Hitler's efforts to eliminate Jews from the face of the Earth richly deserve scorn and I hope other leaders around the world will follow Hidalgo's example.
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