Scholz and Abbas in the Chancellery: This handshake is an embarrassment

In the Chancellery, Palestinian President Abbas talks about Israel committing "Holocausts" against the Palestinians - and Scholz does not disagree.

Scholz and Abbas in the Chancellery: This handshake is an embarrassment

In the Chancellery, Palestinian President Abbas talks about Israel committing "Holocausts" against the Palestinians - and Scholz does not disagree. The Chancellor should urgently consider how this could have happened.

Word has gotten around that Olaf Scholz is not a communicative genius. His sentences are even longer than those of his predecessor, and when he tries to crack a joke, it can come across as arrogant. But his silence on Tuesday evening in the Chancellery was more than rhetorical failure.

Scholz had contradicted the talk by Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas about an alleged Israeli "apartheid system". Then a German journalist asked if Abbas would apologize for the attack by Palestinian terrorists on the Israeli team at the Olympic Games 50 years ago. Instead of apologizing, Abbas spoke in his answer of "50 holocausts" that Israel had committed against Palestinians since 1947. This time Scholz did not intervene. handshake, exit. What an embarrassment.

Scholz later had his government spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit, say he was outraged by Abbas' statement. The Chancellor told the "Bild" newspaper: "Especially for us Germans, any relativization of the Holocaust is unbearable and unacceptable." Finally, on Tuesday morning, Scholz tweeted that he was "deeply outraged by the unspeakable statements" by the Palestinian President. But none of that can make up for the fact that Scholz didn't react at the crucial moment.

One reason for the lack of reaction could lie with the government spokesman, who declared the press conference over immediately after Abbas' answer. Hebestreit did not cut a happy figure with it - it would have been his job to give Scholz a sign that a reaction was required. But even without such a signal, Scholz could and should have ruled.

With his diatribes, Abbas showed that his thanks to the German government and the German people, with which he entered the press conference, are empty talk. His performance was cheeky, it wasn't a surprise. Scholz should have been prepared for his guest to make anti-Semitic speeches and downplay the Holocaust. Four years ago, Abbas claimed that the Jews ultimately blamed themselves for the Holocaust. The central thesis of his doctoral thesis, published in the 1980s, was the outrageous claim that Zionists and National Socialists were equally responsible for the Holocaust.

Of course, there is no doubt that Scholz's subsequently announced indignation is genuine. The incident was nevertheless a serious mistake, the causes of which one can only speculate about: Is the chancellor too insecure or too self-confident on such occasions? Whatever the reason: Scholz should urgently think about it. As a head of government, you also have to receive unpleasant guests. But he shouldn't be seen a second time shaking hands with a man who had just played down the Holocaust.