Paris revokes medal awarded to Palestinian president over his Holocaust remarks

Paris has revoked its highest honour conferred upon Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas after his remarks on Holocaust.

The office of Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris told AFP news agency that Abbas could no longer hold the Grand Vermeil medal after he "justified the extermination of the Jews of Europe" in World War II.

"The comments you made are contrary to our universal values and the historical truth of the Shoah," Hidalgo said in a letter to Abbas sent on Thursday. "You can therefore no longer hold this distinction."

The letter was published on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) by Yonathan Arfi, who is the president of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF). It is an umbrella organisation representing French Jews.

"This important decision honours Paris and the city's ongoing commitment against anti-Semitism," he wrote.

Abbas, 87, claimed Jews had been murdered in the Holocaust because of their "social role" and not religion, saying it was "not true" that "(Adolf) Hitler killed the Jews because they were Jews".

Echoing anti-Semitic tropes, he claimed Europeans "fought (the Jews) because of their social role, and not their religion. Because of usury and money".

His remarks came during a speech late last month in front of senior members of his Fatah party in the city of Ramallah. A video of the event surfaced this week.

"You (...) justified the extermination of the Jews of Europe during World War II with a clear desire to deny the genocide," Hidalgo said in the letter.

"I vehemently condemn your remarks, no cause can justify revisionism and negationism," she added.

Abbas was given the Grand Vermeil during a 2015 visit to Paris.

A spokesperson for the European Union said "the speech... contained false and grossly misleading remarks about Jews and anti-Semitism".

France's consulate in Jerusalem called the remarks "totally unacceptable".

(With inputs from agencies)

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