Olaf Scholz on Wednesday denounced remarks by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that the German Chancellor said diminished the importance of the Holocaust, while Israel accused Abbas of telling a “monstrous lie”.
“For us Germans in particular, any relativisation of the singularity of the Holocaust is intolerable and unacceptable,” Mr Scholz tweeted. “I am disgusted by the outrageous remarks made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.”
During a visit to Berlin on Tuesday, Mr Abbas accused Israel of committing “50 Holocausts” in response to a question about the 50th anniversary of the attack on the Israeli team at the Munich Olympics by Palestinian militants.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid also condemned the comments as a “disgrace”.
“Mahmoud Abbas accusing Israel of having committed '50 Holocausts' while standing on German soil is not only a moral disgrace, but a monstrous lie,” Mr Lapid tweeted. “History will never forgive him.”
Six million Jews were killed in Nazi Germany's Holocaust.
Standing alongside Mr Scholz, Mr Abbas referred to a series of historical incidents in which Palestinians were killed by Israelis in the 1948 war that accompanied the creation of the state of Israel and in the years following.
“From 1947 to the present day, Israel has committed 50 massacres in Palestinian villages and cities, in Deir Yassin, Tantura, Kafr Qasim and many others, 50 massacres, 50 Holocausts,” said Mr Abbas.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa did not include the Holocaust comments in its report of the meeting. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said Mr Lapid's comments were intended to divert attention from Israel's “crimes”.
The ministry said “the occupying power is not satisfied with committing these crimes on a daily and continuous basis, but also does not tolerate and rejects any talk or statements that remind the Israelis and the international community of the many crimes committed by Israel”.
Mourners hold vigil for Gaza victims in Washington
Mr Abbas's comment comes after a short but disastrous conflict earlier this month during which 49 people were killed in Gaza after Israel carried out air strikes in response to what it said was an imminent threat from the militant Islamic Jihad group, which fired over 1,000 rockets in response.
Dozens of Palestinians have also been killed in clashes with Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank, while there have been attacks on Israelis, including an incident on Sunday when eight people were wounded on a bus carrying Jewish worshippers in Jerusalem.
Palestinians seek statehood in territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Negotiations have been frozen since 2014.
