This article first appeared in the CUFI UK Torch Magazine. For the latest issue, see here.
The Mahmoud Abbas connection
To bring our article about the Munich Massacre to a close, we will now look at how the Palestinians perceive the Munich Massacre. There were three main people in the planning and financing of the Munich Massacre: Abu Iyad, Abu Daoud and Abu Mazen.
Abu Iyad was the Arabic name (kunya) for Salah Khalaf. He was second in command to Yasser Arafat. You may recognise Salah Khalaf as the person whose grave Jeremy Corbyn infamously laid a wreath at. He was killed in 1991. Abu Daoud was the Arabic name for Mohammad Daoud Oudeh. He was the mastermind of the Munich Massacre. Following Germany’s inaction, Daoud was able to live out his days in Syria where he died of natural causes in 2010. Abu Mazen is the Arabic name for Mahmoud Abbas, the current president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO). Abbas was the chief financer of the operation.
These three people were primarily responsible for the planning, implementation and financing of the Munich Massacre. And the way they are treated today in Palestinian society is evidence of how many Palestinians view this event.
Both Abu Iyad and Abu Daoud have been immortalised in Palestinian society. They have streets, schools and even sporting events named after them. When they died, Mahmoud Abbas himself wrote their obituaries and praised their exploits. On numerous anniversaries of the Munich Massacre, the Palestinian Authority’s official newspapers and social media accounts have praised Iyad and Daoud for carrying out a “quality operation.”
Abu Mazen (Abbas) is the last surviving member of the trio. He has long been a successful businessman and although he was never directly involved in carrying out terror attacks, he has always been accused of playing a role behind the scenes. Abu Daoud named Mahmoud Abbas as the chief financer of the Munich Massacre, and there is more than enough evidence to support this, especially since Abbas continues to fund terror.
Today, the Palestinian Authority spends over £200 million annually to pay the salaries of terrorists. If a Palestinian stabs an Israeli civilian to death in the streets of Jerusalem, that terrorist is guaranteed a salary from Abbas’s government. If the terrorist is killed during the attack, the money is then given to his family. These ‘martyr’ payments are exceedingly popular among Palestinians and are described as being “part of the ethos of Palestinian society.”
In 2018, Mahmoud Abbas, under heavy pressure from the Trump administration to stop funding terrorism, declared, “We will neither reduce nor prevent [payment] of allowances to the families of martyrs, prisoners, and released prisoners, as some seek, and if we had only a single penny left, we would pay it to families of the martyrs and prisoners. From our standpoint, the martyrs and prisoners are stars in the firmament of the Palestinian people’s struggle, and take priority in every matter.”
As said before, Abbas was the chief financer of the Munich Massacre, and he continues to be the chief financer of Palestinian terrorism. Unlike other terrorist leaders, however, Mahmoud Abbas is not outlawed. Instead, he is given red carpet treatment by governments around the world.
Just two weeks before the 50th anniversary of the Munich Massacre, Abbas was invited to Germany. There, Abbas stood next to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and was asked during a press conference, if, after all these decades, he would like to apologise for his part in the Munich Massacre. His response is possibly the most insulting thing he has ever said:
“If you want to go over the past, go ahead,” Abbas said before giving his own history lesson. “From 1947 to the present day, Israel has committed 50 massacres in Palestinian villages and cities… fifty massacres, fifty holocausts… until today.” He then self-righteously urged Israel to change its ways and “come towards peace.”
Let’s think about this for a moment. The Holocaust was the worst genocide in human history. Six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust – several million more than any other genocide. So brutal was this murderous campaign that there are still fewer Jews living on earth today than there was before the Holocaust. By contrast, since 1947, the Palestinian population, both in Israel and the Palestinian territories, has more than quadrupled.
Israel has one of the most moral armies in the world. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have maintained this high moral standard while dealing with radical Islamist terrorism from Palestinian factions who routinely target Israeli civilians. There is no moral equivalence between Israel and the Palestinians. There is even less of a comparison to be made between Israel and the Nazis, a smear insinuated by Abbas in his comments.
We need to be clear, Mahmoud Abbas’s absurd claim is deeply antisemitic. The IHRA definition of antisemitism, which the European Union has adopted, makes it clear that comparing Israel’s actions to the actions of the Nazis is antisemitic. However, Mahmoud Abbas didn’t just compare Israel’s actions to that of the Nazis; he claimed that Israel – the victims of the Holocaust – had in fact committed an atrocity that was fifty times worse than the Holocaust.
To make matters worse, Abbas was standing in Munich – a place where both the Holocaust and the Munich Massacre occurred – and he, a person who funds the murder of Jews, showed absolutely no remorse for his actions.
As expected, Abbas’s comments sparked outrage and various world leaders issued their condemnations and concerns. However, these same governments are responsible for giving Abbas his voice. They routinely roll out the red carpet for him. They continue to send hundreds-of-millions of pounds to his corrupt administration, despite knowing part of this money continues to fund terrorists that murder Jews. They cannot then act surprised when Mahmoud Abbas shows his true colours.
Abbas has no remorse for the Munich Massacre because he continues to support terrorism against Israel. It is this attitude from Palestinian leaders that has mainstreamed support for terrorism within Palestinian society. What did the Palestinians learn from the Munich Massacre? That they can murder Jews and the world will do little about it. Sadly, it appears nothing has changed.
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