The scandal surrounding Holocaust statements by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the reaction of Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz are making waves. Now government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit throws himself into the line of fire. “That was my fault.”
By Nico Fried
The government spokesman takes responsibility for the Holocaust scandal, but does this really exonerate the chancellor? “That was my mistake, I have to take responsibility for that,” said Steffen Hebestreit on Wednesday afternoon at the federal press conference. However, the question remained open as to why Scholz did not speak again of his own accord.
In this press conference on Tuesday, Abbas equated Israeli military actions against the Palestinians with the Holocaust, which caused outrage in Israel and among Jewish organizations. Scholz was then criticized, especially domestically, because he had not immediately responded to Abbas’s statements.
Scholz “snarled” the government spokesman
Hebestreit said he had already thought about the end of the press conference, which he had previously announced. According to Abbas’ statements, he did not have eye contact with Scholz and then made the mistake of “not reacting or not leaving a gap to give the chancellor the opportunity to react.” The government spokesman said he deeply regrets this mistake. Hebestreit also reported that the chancellor “snarled” at him as he was leaving that he would like to say something more about Abbas’s statements.
“The microphones were off at that point,” Hebestreit said. As a rule, a press conference with foreign guests in the Chancellery is over when the Chancellor asks the guest to leave the podium. Scholz then had no opportunity to bring the journalists back again, Hebestreit said. However, it is quite possible to speak to the journalists without microphones and, if necessary, to switch on the loudspeaker system again.
Scholz was also criticized for shaking Abbas’ hand after the press conference. In this context, Hebestreit says, the chancellor has “little” to blame himself for: “He can’t look any more fiercely than when he shook his hand.” The Chancellor clearly expressed his displeasure.
Friedrich Merz criticizes Olaf Scholz
Hebestreit said that the chancellor very quickly made his outrage public “after the press conference” – first towards him, Hebestreit said, which he then passed on to some journalists. Later, Scholz only responded “at the request of a medium”. Scholz had distanced himself from Abbas’ statements to the “Bild” newspaper in the early evening.
In the press conference, Abbas was asked for an apology for the attack on the Munich Olympic Games, in which eleven Israeli athletes and support staff were killed 50 years ago during the failed rescue operation after Palestinian terrorists had taken hostages. A German police officer was also killed, as were five of the attackers. Abbas replied, “Israel has committed 50 massacres in 50 Palestinian locations since 1947 to the present day.” These are “50 massacres, 50 holocausts”.
The process also caused a stir because Scholz initially left Abbas’ statements uncommented. Opposition leader Friedrich Merz (CDU) spoke of an “incomprehensible process”. Merz wrote on Twitter: “The #Chancellor should have clearly contradicted the Palestinian President and asked him to leave the house.”
Source: Stern
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