analysis
scandal in the chancellery
A disaster on many levels: it’s about more than Scholz’ subsequent outrage
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (right) and Mahmud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority
© Wolfgang Kumm/ / Picture Alliance
Scholz’ omission, Abbas’ renewed oath of disclosure: The scandal in the Chancellery over the “Holocaust” comparison of the Palestinian leader is a communicative catastrophe – on many levels.
What is left to hold onto? Olaf Scholz did not cut a good figure, neither did his government spokesman, and Mahmud Abbas (once again) revealed deep abysses that will be discussed later.
But one by one.
On Tuesday afternoon, a joint press conference by the Chancellor and the Palestinian President ended in an uproar that casts a bad light on everyone involved.
Abbas outraged with exaggerated statements against Israel, described Israeli policy as an “apartheid system” and accused the state of “50 massacres, 50 holocausts” against Palestinians.
In the presence of the journalists, Scholz immediately made it clear that he did not endorse Abbas’ formulation of an “apartheid system” for Israel, but immediately failed to react to the Holocaust comparison – because, as the Chancellor’s Office said afterwards, he did , the opportunity to replicate was cut off. Immediately after Abbas’ derailment, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit ended the press conference.
Already in the evening after the press conference, a wave of indignation broke out over Scholz and Hebestreit. The CDU chairman Friedrich Merz spoke of an “incomprehensible event in the Chancellery”, Scholz should have “clearly contradicted the Palestinian President and asked him to leave the house!” The fact that Hebestreit closed the press conference “before the chancellor could even catch his breath is politically lacking in instinct,” said FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann later “Mirror”.
It’s a communication disaster on many levels.
Olaf Scholz tries to limit the damage
On the one hand: Scholz could still have spoken, or rather not have had to let his spokesman cut off his speech. Nevertheless: The “error” is “on my own account”, so heave dispute on Wednesday, who took responsibility for what happened. However, it is not his responsibility that the chancellor shook hands with his guest just moments after the “Holocaust” comparison. The image will remain. Likewise, the impression that Scholz reacted too late to Abbas’ derailments: only in the evening did a first statement follow when asked “Picture”-Newspaper, the next morning via Twitter finally the clear distancing from the “unspeakable statements”.
On the other hand: It is not the first time that Abbas has attracted attention with his relativization of the Holocaust. In May 2018 he said, the Holocaust was not triggered by anti-Semitism, but by the “social behavior” of the Jews. Shortly before, he had described Israel as a “colonial project” that had nothing to do with the Jews. And already in his doctoral thesis, which he submitted in the early 1980s, he put the Holocaust into perspective and accused the Zionist movement of having collaborated with the Hintler regime. The mindset of the Palestinian President is thus well documented. The Chancellery could have been prepared for Abbas to take advantage of the stage he was given – and possibly even prevented it.
The focus of the current debate is, above all, on Scholz’s failure to react to Abbas’ statements at first and then only later, rather than the rhetorical dissolution of limits by the Palestinian President himself – and the possible consequences of this.
For the Chancellor who described Israel’s security as a German reason of state, its credibility is at stake. The Central Council of Jews reacted with horror to Abbas’ Holocaust comparison, which trampled on the memory of six million murdered Jews and damaged the memory of all victims. “I think it’s scandalous that a relativization of the Holocaust, especially in Germany, at a press conference in the Federal Chancellery, goes unchallenged,” explained the President of the Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster. Scholz can feel addressed.
The Chancellery is now trying to limit the damage called the head of the Palestinian mission to an interview. A phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Jair Lapid is planned for Thursday, who will clarify Abbas’ statements on twitter “Not only a moral disgrace, but a blatant lie”. The Israeli government focuses its criticism on Abbas failure, not on Scholz’s silence. Nevertheless, the incident is likely to strain relations with Israel.
A “dark shadow”
The Palestinian President backtracked on Wednesday share with, he did not want to question the uniqueness of the Holocaust. Rather, he meant “the crimes and massacres against the Palestinian people” committed by Israel’s armed forces since the Nakba.
Apparently that’s not enough for Scholz. Abbas must “recognize the singularity of the Holocaust without any reservations”, let his spokesman align Hebestreit. The “derailment” of the Palestinian President cast “a dark shadow” on Germany’s relations with the Palestinian Authority. A trip by the chancellor to Ramallah is “difficult to imagine” in the foreseeable future.
MEP Nicola Beer (FDP) does not want to leave it at words – and calls for tangible consequences: “Anyone who, like Abbas, drags the Holocaust commemoration in the dirt,” said Beer “Tagesschau.de”, should not assume “that EU financial aid for the Palestinian Authority will remain a sure-fire success.” The EU is the largest donor to the Palestinian Authority, which is headed by Abbas. “Given the scope of the incident, the European Union should consider withholding funds for a limited period,” Beer said.
So Abbas cannot afford to break off relations with Germany, let alone the EU. In addition, the Federal Republic has an important mediating role in the crisis-ridden region.
This is also part of the dimension of the failed press conference, which is currently being determined by the debate about Scholz’s silence. This could change soon.