Berlin police announced today that they have opened an investigation against Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on suspicion of “incitement to hatred” after the controversial statements he made in Berlin about the Holocaust.
Police filed a complaint against Abbas for “relativizing the Holocaust” after the Palestinian president’s remarks on Tuesday during a joint press conference with Chancellor Olaf Soltz.
The special department of the judicial police of the state then began an investigation, for which it plans to inform “soon” the prosecutor’s office, which will decide whether or not to follow up, a police representative explained to AFP, confirming information from media.
Asked about the attack fifty years ago during the 1972 Munich Olympics, which killed 11 Israelis and was carried out by armed Palestinians, Abbas compared the situation in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian Territories to the Holocaust .
“From 1947 until today, Israel has committed 50 massacres in 50 Palestinian villages and towns (…), 50 massacres, 50 holocausts and even today we have daily deaths from the Israeli army”, he had declared, causing a wave of indignation mainly in Israel and Germany.
The investigation could end quickly, however, if Abbas is protected by diplomatic immunity.
The German Foreign Ministry believes this is possible, as he was in Germany on an official visit, but criminologist Michael Kubicyl, cited by the Bild newspaper, has his doubts.
Abbas can enjoy immunity only as a “representative of another state”, so the question of whether or not Palestine can be considered a state becomes “very important”, according to the expert.
More than 130 countries recognize Palestine as a state, but not Germany. Berlin has nevertheless established diplomatic relations with the occupied territories.
Source: AMPE
Source: Capital
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