Editor-In-Chief Of Palestinian Authority Daily Mahmoud Abu Al-Haija Calls For Legal Action Against Intellectuals Who Criticized Abbas' Holocaust Comments: They Prefer The Israeli Narrative Over The Palestinian One

Mahmoud Abu Al-Haija, the Editor-in-Chief of the Palestinian Authority's Al-Hayat Al-Jadida daily, said in a September 12, 2023, show on Awda TV (Palestinian Authority) that legal action should be taken against the "self-proclaimed" intellectuals who have condemned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's recent remarks about the Holocaust. He accused these people of having "chosen the Israeli narrative over the Palestinian narrative," and he added that it was clear that Abbas opposed the evil of the Holocaust.

Newscaster: "The Palestinian National Council has stated that against the backdrop of the fierce war waged by the Israeli extreme right, against our Palestinian people and cities, a group of self-proclaimed intellectuals, writers, and academics living in Europe and America, have demonstrated their moral decay by adopting the lies of the media and the Israeli narrative, and by accepting the artificial falsehoods about President of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas."

Mahmoud Abu Al-Haija: "If we assumed that there was some confusion in what President Abbas said about the Holocaust, and considering that he did say that he was against this evil Holocaust, perpetrated by the Nazis against the Jews in Germany... Had there been some confusion there, it would have been more appropriate for those self-proclaimed writers, intellectuals, and academics – if they had minimal moral and patriotic responsibility – to clarify the confusion rather than go along with the Israeli narrative.

"I do not think that it is enough to describe their communique as shameful. It is not enough to make statements of a moral nature. Legal procedures must be taken against these people, because they relied on the Israeli narrative, in order to cast doubt on President Abbas's speech."

Newscaster: "They have chosen the Israeli narrative over the Palestinian narrative."

Al-Haija: "The problem is not only in their doubting the President's credibility. The danger lies in their doubting and undermining of the Palestinian narrative itself."