Museum Outraged at President Abbas's Remarks

WASHINGTON – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s speech to the European Parliament on June 23 propagated an unsubstantiated, incendiary, antisemitic trope, harkening back to medieval lies that led to many massacres of Jews over the centuries. President Abbas made the outrageous claim that Israeli rabbis demanded that their government poison water supplies in order to kill Palestinians. 

“It is extraordinarily irresponsible for a government official to spread a baseless, inflammatory allegation before a body of internationally elected officials,” said Tad Stahnke, director of the Museum’s Initiative on Holocaust Denial and Antisemitism. “Antisemitism is a growing worldwide threat, and it is alarming that members of the European Parliament, most of whom represent countries in which the Holocaust was perpetrated, failed to condemn Abbas’s remark.”  

In the Middle Ages, Jews were falsely accused of spreading the plague by deliberately poisoning wells, lies that led to massacres of Jewish communities throughout Europe.

Abbas’s remark may have been based on a recent story by the Turkish state news agency, Andalou, which made the claim about Israeli rabbis and the poisoning of Palestinians’ water. Andalou has in the past reported other outlandish antisemitic conspiracy theories. The latest claim gained regional currency and quickly spread through statements by the Foreign Ministry of the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League, and was reported in several Arab media outlets. 

“The reckless spread of hateful claims is all too frequent in the political discourse in the Middle East. Despite Abbas eventually walking back his statements, the impact of spreading such conspiracy theories remains potent in a volatile region,” continued Stahnke. “The European Parliament and others in the international community must be vigilant in immediately condemning and interrupting the spread of such lies.” 

A living memorial to the Holocaust, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum inspires citizens and leaders worldwide to confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity. Its far-reaching educational programs and global impact are made possible by generous donors. For more information, visit www.ushmm.org.

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