Netanyahu sparks Holocaust controversy ahead of Kerry meeting
Controversy swirled Wednesday over Benjamin Netanyahu's contentious remarks about the Holocaust as the Israeli prime minister prepared to meet with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Germany.
The German government dismissed comments by Netanyahu blaming a Muslim elder for the Holocaust. "All Germans know the history of the murderous race mania of the Nazis that led to the break with civilization that was the Holocaust," Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said. "We know that responsibility for this crime against humanity is German and very much our own."
Netanyahu, at the World Zionist Congress in Israel on Tuesday, said Hitler "didn't want to exterminate the Jews at the time, he wanted to expel the Jews." Netanyahu said Haj Amin al-Husseini, a Muslim Palestinian leader at the time, "went to Hitler and said, 'If you expel them, they'll all come here.'"
Hitler and al-Husseini met in November 1941, after Germany had begun killing Jews. Netanyahu attempted to clarify his comments Wednesday before heading to Berlin. He said Hitler was responsible for the Holocaust, but al-Husseini encouraged him and also wanted to see the Jews dead.
Saeb Erekat, former chief negotiator in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, blasted Netanyahu in a statement on the Palestinian Liberation Organization's Twitter page.
"Netanyahu hates Palestinians so much that he is willing to absolve Hitler for the murder of 6 million Jews," Erekat said.
Kerry is to meet with Netanyahu in Berlin on Thursday and with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Jordan this weekend. The goal is to find common ground aimed at restarting peace talks and ending a surge in violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Ten Israelis have died in a month-long wave of stabbings and other assaults that have resulted in more than 45 Palestinian deaths, including more than 25 labeled by Israelis as attackers.
The attacks continued Wednesday, when a Palestinian rammed his car into Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, injuring four of them, The Jerusalem Post reported. The condition of the soldiers was not immediately released; the Post said the driver was shot and seriously wounded.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon tried to broker calm, meeting Netanyahu on Tuesday and Abbas on Wednesday. Ban called on Palestinians to halt the attacks on Israelis while imploring Israel to ease security responses. Abbas appeared to give little ground on restarting peace talks, saying he wants Israel to first withdraw from the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Netanyahu has pressed for the talks to reconvene without conditions.