6 | SEPTEMBER 1 • 2022 

1942 - 2022

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PURELY COMMENTARY

his entire adult life.
He wrote his doctoral 
thesis on the premise of a 
partnership between Zionists 
and Nazis and argued that 
the number of Jews who 
perished in the Holocaust 
was vastly overblown. Over 
the years, he has repeatedly 
made the case that “only” a 
few hundred thousand Jews 
were killed and that the six 
million figure was concocted 
for public relations purposes. 
Just four years ago, Abbas 
claimed that Jews in Europe 
were massacred for centuries 
because of their “social role 
related to usury and banks.”
Such is the state of 
moderation in the Middle 
East.
Scholz did not exactly 
cover himself with glory, 
remaining silent through 
the remainder of the news 
conference after Abbas’ slurs 
and then shaking his hand 

afterward before eventually 
criticizing Abbas several 
hours later. He has been 
condemned in Germany and 
abroad for not speaking out 
more quickly. The fact that 
German law actually forbids 
Holocaust denial heightens 
Scholz’s embarrassment even 
further.
Yet the German leader’s 
reaction underscores the 
tenuous nature of Israel’s 
relationships with many 
European countries and 
reinforces the importance 
of strengthening ties with 
its Arab neighbors. It also 
reminds us of the scope 
of the challenge that those 
of us who want to achieve 
peace in the Middle East 
still face. Israel’s improved 
relationships in the region 
certainly provide greater 
security for its people. But 
while praise for these efforts 
is entirely justified, Abbas’ 

hate-filled remarks are a 
testament to the obstacles to 
peace that still lie ahead.
In the three-dimensional 
chess game that is Middle 
Eastern geopolitics, other 
events occurred recently 
that could have a greater 
impact on Israel’s future 
than Abbas’ insults. While 
the most “reasonable” of 
Palestinian leaders was 
blaspheming the memories 
of six million dead Jews, 
Iranian negotiators were 
withdrawing a key demand 
from the negotiations over 
that country’s nuclear 
capabilities. Iran’s decision 
to drop the requirement that 
their Revolutionary Guard 
Corps be removed from the 
State Department’s terrorist 
organization blacklist makes 
a final deal slightly more 
likely and accentuates the 
mutual animosity toward Iran 
that binds Israel to a growing 

number of Arab states.
Henry Kissinger famously 
said that there are no 
permanent friends or 
enemies, only interests. So 
the juxtaposition of the 
negotiations with Iran and 
Abbas’ ugly revisionism 
provides a cautionary note 
that the stronger relationships 
between Israel and some 
of its neighbors does not 
reflect an eradication of 
age-old antisemitism in the 
region but rather the current 
and perhaps temporary 
confluence of goals against a 
common threat. 
If Abbas is a moderate, 
permanent friendships in this 
dangerous neighborhood are 
still a long way off. 

Dan Schnur is a professor at the 

University of California Berkeley, USC 

and Pepperdine. This article was 

originally published by the Jewish 

Journal.

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