In a scathing editorial, The New York Times called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to step down, saying that his recent speech blaming the Holocaust on the Jews is a "new low."
In an address before Palestinian legislators on Monday, Abbas said that the mass extermination of the Jews by Nazi Germany during World War II was a result of the Jews' own behavior rather than a product of religious persecution.
"So the Jewish question that was widespread throughout Europe was not against their religion, but against their social function, which relates to usury (unscrupulous money lending) and banking and such," Abbas argued in his speech.
He further claimed that the Nazis and the Zionist leadership collaborated in creating a Jewish entity in the Middle East as part of a joint "colonialist project."
The editorial board of The New York Times, which has historically been highly critical of the Israeli Right, this time said it was Abbas who was crushing the hopes for peace, asserting that he is no longer capable of performing his job.
"Feeding reprehensible anti-Semitic myths and conspiracy theories in a speech on Monday, the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, shed all credibility as a trustworthy partner if the Palestinians and Israelis ever again have the nerve to try negotiations," said Thursday's editorial.
"No doubt he feels embittered and besieged on all sides. But by succumbing to such dark, corrosive instincts he showed that it is time for him to leave office.
"Mr. Abbas opposed Mr. Arafat during the 2000-2005 Second Intifada, recognized Israel and committed himself to a nonviolent approach to negotiations for peace and a two-state solution," the editorial said. "He was valued by the West as Mr. Arafat's successor, and for years he has deployed Palestinian forces to help Israelis maintain security in the West Bank.
"But pressures, some of his own making and many others caused by Israel, which has ultimate control over the West Bank, are building. Mr. Abbas, who oversees a governing system plagued by corruption and dysfunction, has lost support among the Palestinian people," it continued.
"Palestinians need a leader with energy, integrity and vision, one who might have a better chance of achieving Palestinian independence and enabling both peoples to live in peace," the editorial concluded.
