Who is Abu Mazen?

Six years ago I wrote a letter to then-President Bush in which I attempted to show why Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen is not a 'moderate.'

Abu Mazen is not a man of peace. He is an anti-Semite and at least an accessory to murder. Abu Mazen is a Holocaust denier. He wrote his doctoral thesis in 1982 at the Moscow Institute for Oriental Studies. The heading of his doctoral thesis was: "Zionist leadership and the Nazis." The introduction dealt, among other topics, with a loaded issue: How many Jews perished in the Holocaust. In the Soviet period, especially in the anti-Israel institute that Abu Mazen attended, they often dealt with such questions. The Soviet Union, more than any other country, was addicted to Holocaust denial. The victims were not recognized by their origin, but rather by their nationality. And this is what the diligent researcher Abu Mazen wrote:

World War Two caused the death of 40 million people from different parts of the world. Ten million Germans, 20 million Soviets, and more…Rumors at the end of the war said that 6 million of the world's Jews were among the victims in the war of extermination that was waged against the Jewish people and later on against other peoples. The fact is that no one can confirm this number or deny it. The number could be 6 million, but it could be much smaller, perhaps even smaller than one million.

"Many researchers who discussed the number reached the unconventional conclusion that it is no more than several hundred thousand," he wrote. Later on, Abu Mazen quotes a Holocaust denier who claimed that "at first the Zionists spoke about 12 million Jews who were killed in the death camps. They later narrowed the number down to 6 and to 4 million. It is not possible that the Germans murdered more Jews than existed in the world at the time." He quotes another Holocaust denier who counted 896,000 Jewish victims in all. Abu Mazen has consistently refused to distance himself from his thesis.

Mr. President, you are a few years older than I am, but we are from the same generation. I am sure that you remember as vividly as I do watching eleven Israeli athletes being held hostage at the Munich Olympic games in 1972 and their eventual murder by their 'Palestinian' kidnappers. But perhaps you never knew that Abu Mazen, whom you now call a 'man of peace' financed that terror attack and has never expressed any remorse for it. In case you have forgotten, I am enclosing a picture of one of the terrorists on the balcony outside the room in the Olympic village where the Israeli athletes were held. I'm sure you recognize it. It was taken from ABC television's live coverage of the 'event.'

I know that when you ask Secretary Rice about Abu Mazen's thesis and the Munich Olympics, she's going to tell you that's all ancient history and that you should ask Scowcroft about it. But I'd like to show you a few statements that Abu Mazen has made in the last few months that ought to convince you that he is not a man of peace and should not be invited to any peace conferences.

Read the whole thing. 

Matters like Abu Mazen's anti-Semitism are things that Israel's chattering classes prefer to ignore, so they are not often discussed in Israel's media. But on Tuesday, in a rare display of honesty, they were discussed in the Knesset, and the media had little choice but to report on it.

Jerusalem and Diaspora Minister Naftali Bennett, who is responsible for the government's efforts to battle anti-Semitism, attended a conference of a Knesset caucus on the issue, led by MK Shimon Ohayon (Likud Beytenu), and pointed out that Abbas denied the Holocaust.

"The President of the Palestinian Authority said he doesn't want to see any Israelis on his land. Bad things happen when good people are silent. Good people need to act," he stated.

...

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Avigdor Liberman (Likud Beytenu) said he keeps a copy of Abbas' book, which purports to connect Zionism and Nazism and has a Star of David and a swastika on its cover, in his office.

"I don't know why, now that we're all so excited about the peace process, no one remembered to mention it. Abbas never took his words back or apologized," Liberman stated.

As if an apology would undo all the damage Abu Mazen has done....

Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky said he read Abbas' dissertation from the Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow, and explained that it claims Zionism and Nazism worked together because both wanted to remove all Jews from Europe.

"To this day, people ask me if I think anti-Semitism is a good thing, because it brings people to Israel. What ignorance and lies!" Sharansky said.

"Anti-Semitism is enemy number one of Zionism," he added. "For every one person who makes aliya because of anti-Semitism, 10 assimilate. Anti-Semitism and delegitimization of Israel lead Jews to distance themselves from Judaism and Israel."

Sharansky said anti-Semitism "is reaching new heights" and that the Knesset must put it on its agenda.

 And the Knesset can start putting it on the agenda by being honest and calling Abu Mazen what he is: An anti-Semite.