Scandal at press conference
After Holocaust testimony: Police are investigating Palestinian President Abbas for incitement to hatred
After Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas compared the Holocaust, the question of what prompted Abbas’ visit to Berlin in the first place receded into the background
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ accusation of the Holocaust against Israel has caused outrage in Berlin. Now the police are also investigating an “initial suspicion of hate speech”.
The Holocaust allegation by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas against Israel is now also calling the Berlin police into action. “The preliminary investigation into the initial suspicion of incitement to hatred under Section 130 of the Criminal Code is being processed in a specialist department of the State Criminal Police Office,” a police spokeswoman told the “Bild” newspaper. Criminal lawyer Udo Vetter told the newspaper: “As a result, an initial suspicion of downplaying the Nazi tyranny cannot be dismissed out of hand.”
At a joint press conference with Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the Chancellery on Tuesday, Abbas accused Israel of multiple “Holocausts” against the Palestinians, triggering outrage. “Israel has committed 50 massacres in 50 Palestinian locations from 1947 to the present day,” Abbas said, adding, “50 massacres, 50 holocausts.”
Abbas may be protected by “official visit” immunity
When asked by “Bild”, the Federal Foreign Office said that the federal government assumes that Abbas enjoys immunity because he was in the Federal Republic as part of an “official visit”.
The Augsburg criminal law expert Michael Kubiciel told the paper that it was not decisive whether Abbas was in Berlin at the invitation of the Federal Republic. Many people would accept an invitation from government agencies without enjoying immunity. It is therefore crucial that the person was in Germany “as a representative of another state”. Consequently, the question “whether Palestine is a state or not is of crucial importance,” said Kubiciel.
Germany has not yet recognized Palestine as a state, but maintains diplomatic relations with the Palestinian territories.