Israeli Prime Minister Talks to Scholz After Palestinian Leader's Remark on Holocaust

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid had a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday following remarks made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Israel committing "50 holocausts" against Palestinians, Lapid's office said.

"Prime Minister Yair Lapid spoke today, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. At the start of their conversation, the German Chancellor emphasized that he rejects and condemns Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's remarks, and that it was important for him to clarify this personally to the Prime Minister, as well as publicly," the Israeli prime minister's office said in a statement, adding that "Lapid thanked him [Scholz], both as the Prime Minister of Israel, and as the son of Holocaust survivors."

During the telephone conversation, the two leaders also emphasized the importance of ties between Israel and Germany, agreed to continue cooperation in various fields and to meet soon, the statement added.

According to the Israeli prime minister's office, the two leaders also discussed the Iranian nuclear issue, with Lapid reiterating Israel's opposition to a return to the nuclear agreement, and the need for Europe to send a "clear and unequivocal message that there will be no more concessions to Iran."

On Tuesday, Abbas took part in a press conference in Berlin following talks with Scholz. When asked if Palestine intended to apologize for the 1972 Munich attack against Israeli athletes, Abbas said that Israel had committed "50 massacres, 50 Holocausts" in Palestine since 1947. Scholz did not immediately comment on the statement, which caused public criticism, including from Lapid and Germany's Christian Democratic Union's (CDU) party leader Friedrich Merz.

In 1972, a Palestinian terrorist group committed a terrorist attack at the Munich Olympics, killing 12 people, 11 of whom were members of the Israeli Olympic team, and one was a German police officer.

Relations between Israel and Palestine have been adversarial since the latter's founding in 1948. Palestinians seek diplomatic recognition of their independent state on the territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which is partially occupied by Israel, and the Gaza Strip. The Israeli government refuses to recognize Palestine as an independent political and diplomatic entity, and builds settlements in the occupied areas despite objections from the United Nations.