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→At 50 Years to 1972 Munich massacre
Questioned by "Bild", the Federal Foreign Office said the German government assumed that Abbas enjoyed immunity because he was in the Federal Republic as part of an "official visit".
Questioned by "Bild", the Federal Foreign Office said the German government assumed that Abbas enjoyed immunity because he was in the Federal Republic as part of an "official visit".
Augsburg criminal law expert Michael Kubiciel told the paper that it was not decisive whether Abbas was in Berlin at the invitation of the Federal Republic. Many people would accept an invitation from government agencies without enjoying immunity. It is therefore crucial that the person was in Germany “as a representative of another state”. Consequently, the question "whether or not Palestine is a state is of crucial importance," Kubiciel said. Germany did not recognize Palestine as a state.</blockquote></ref>
Augsburg criminal law expert Michael Kubiciel told the paper that it was not decisive whether Abbas was in Berlin at the invitation of the Federal Republic. Many people would accept an invitation from government agencies without enjoying immunity. It is therefore crucial that the person was in Germany “as a representative of another state”. Consequently, the question "whether or not Palestine is a state is of crucial importance," Kubiciel said. Germany did not recognize Palestine as a state.</blockquote></ref><ref name=jns-19aug2022>[https://www.jns.org/abbas-trivialization-of-holocaust-spurs-berlin-police-inquiry/ Abbas's trivialization of Holocaust spurs inquiry by Berlin police], ''JNS'', August 19, 2022.<blockquote>
Berlin police opened a preliminary inquiry into whether Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas broke German laws against incitement of hatred...
"[He] downplayed the most terrible time in the history of our country, and in the history of my family and religious community," said Mike Delberg, who filed a complaint against the Palestinian Authority leader...
Abbas’s statements, made during a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday, were in response to a question about if he would apologize for the massacre of 11 Israeli coaches and athletes by Palestinian terrorists during the 1972 Summer Olympics—as the 50th anniversary of the event approaches.
According to the Associated Press [https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-israel-germany-berlin-138e3f7fdb16c85ce0be7ed05c388de0], downplaying the Holocaust is a criminal offense in Germany, though a preliminary inquiry does not automatically mean a full investigation...
The comments drew international condemnation, and Scholz called [https://www.jns.org/german-chancellor-reiterates-to-lapid-his-condemnation-of-abbass-50-holocausts-remark/] Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid to clarify that Germany opposes Abbas’s trivialization of the Holocaust.
"I am disgusted by the outrageous remarks made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas … ," Scholz said in a statement [https://twitter.com/RozRothstein/status/1560380851438829568]. "For us Germans, in particular, any relativization of the singularity of the Holocaust is intolerable and unacceptable. I condemn any attempt to deny the crimes of the Holocaust."
Mahmoud Al-Habbash, an advisor to Abbas, defended Abbas’s denial of the Holocaust, saying during a televised address republished by MEMRI [https://www.memri.org/tv/pa-presidential-advisor-habbash-defends-abu-mazen-mahmoud-abbas-50-holocausts-comment-this-is-not-antisemitism] that the Israelis "want us to forget history, while they want the world to remember a history which is mostly forged [sic. Mahmoud], exaggerated, fabricated [sic. Mahmoud], with no basis in reality."
According to Jerusalem Post Palestinian affairs correspondent Khaled Abu Toameh, national and religious groups in the Gaza Strip have condemned [https://twitter.com/KhaledAbuToameh/status/1560657744612405248] the German investigation, saying that the "... committed by Israel are not less than the crimes committed during [World War II] against the Jews and others."</blockquote></ref><ref>[https://observatorial.com/news/world/166711/after-the-storm-of-the-holocaust-the-german-police-announced-the-opening-of-an-investigation-against-abu-mazen/ After the storm of the Holocaust: the German police announced the opening of an investigation against Abu Mazen], The Observatorial, Aug 19, 2022.</ref>
Following Abu Mazen's scandalous remarks, former German parliamentarian: 'Germany should send money to families of Munich victims rather than Palestinians.'<ref>Eldad Beck, [https://www.israelhayom.com/2022/08/22/germany-should-send-money-to-families-of-munich-victims-rather-than-palestinians/ Germany should send money to families of Munich victims rather than Palestinians], ''ILH'', Aug 22, 2022.<blockquote>
After Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Holocaust denial, Germany has increasingly been called on to impose sanctions on the PA and decrease its aid to the Palestinians.
Former German parliamentarian Volker Beck proposed a creative idea this week to resolve the crisis regarding the compensation to the families of 11 Israeli athletes who were killed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich by members of a Palestinian group.
After Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of committing "50 (sic) Holocaust" against Palestinians while in Germany, and refused to apologize for his remarks, Beck who heads the German-Israeli Parliamentary Friendship Group – called on the government to transfer the funds earmarked as Palestinian aid to the families of the Israeli athletes instead.
He stressed that according to Olympic security officials, Abbas was involved in the preparations for the 1972 attack and apparently even financed the operation.
Since Abbas' scandalous remarks at the joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Germany has increasingly been called on to impose sanctions on the PA and decrease its aid to the Palestinians.
Between 2021 and 2022, Berlin has sent Ramallah around 340 million euros. The German Foreign Ministry said it does not intend to decrease the funds. It is unclear how much of the aid comes from the German government directly as political foundations and aid and civil organization also contribute. The information is defined by the Bundestag as a "state secret."
Relatives of the murdered Israeli athletes have long criticized how German authorities handled the attack and this year announced they would boycott the upcoming memorial ceremony in Munich to mark the 50th anniversary of the massacre due to Germany's "degrading compensation offer."
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has been working on a compromise between the parties that would prevent Germany from being humiliated at the memorial ceremony due to being boycotted by Israel.</blockquote></ref>
==Corruption & theft==
==Corruption & theft==