Palestinian president loses French honour for anti-Semitic remarks

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has stripped Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of the French capital's highest honour after he made remarks about the Holocaust that echoed anti-Semitic tropes, her office said on Friday.

Palestine's President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 77th United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, in the United States, on 23 September 2022. © REUTERS / CAITLIN OCHS

Abbas could no longer hold the Grand Vermeil medal after he "justified the extermination of the Jews of Europe" in World War II, her office told French news agency AFP.

"The comments you made are contrary to our universal values and the historical truth of the Shoah," Hidalgo said in a letter to Abbas sent on Thursday. "You can therefore no longer hold this distinction."

The text of the letter was published on social media by Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF), an umbrella organisation representing French Jews.

"This important decision honours Paris and the city's ongoing commitment against anti-Semitism," he tweeted.

Dans un courrier adressé ce soir à Mahmoud Abbas, @Anne_Hidalgo lui annonce qu'il ne peut plus se prévaloir de la Médaille Grand Vermeil de Paris.

Cette décision importante honore Paris et l'engagement constant de la ville contre l'antisémitisme. pic.twitter.com/7Dy2ImXfDS

— Yonathan Arfi (@Yonathan_Arfi) September 7, 2023

In recent remarks that were widely condemned, Abbas claimed Jews had been murdered in the Holocaust because of their "social role" and not religion, saying it was "not true" that Adolf Hitler "killed the Jews because they were Jews".

Invoking anti-Semitic tropes, he claimed Europeans targeted Jews "because of usury and money".

'Revisionism' 

Abbas made the comments during a speech late last month before senior members of his Fatah party in Ramallah, and a video of the event surfaced this week.

"You [...] justified the extermination of the Jews of Europe during World War II with a clear desire to deny the genocide," Hidalgo said in the letter.

• Anti-Semitism, xenophobia on the rise warns Macron on visit to French camp
• Biopic of French politician and Holocaust survivor defies critics

"I vehemently condemn your remarks, no cause can justify revisionism and negationism," she added.

A spokesperson for the European Union said Abbas's speech "contained false and grossly misleading remarks about Jews and anti-Semitism".

France's consulate in Jerusalem called the remarks "totally unacceptable".

Awarded for peace

Abbas received the Paris medal, which also makes him an honorary citizen of the city, almost exactly eight years ago, on 21 September 2015.

Hidalgo said then it was in "recognition of his actions in favour of peace between Palestinians and Israelis", in reference to a partnership signed between Paris-based startups and an organisation in Ramallah.

"Sustainable peace can only be achieved by supporting action on the ground," Hidalgo wrote on social media at the time.

The Grand Vermeil Medal of the City of Paris is a distinction created in 1911 and awarded by the mayor of Paris on the proposal of elected members of the Paris Council or associations. 

It rewards people who have achieved a "remarkable act concerning the capital", but versions of the medal are also awarded systematically to centenary Parisians and couples celebrating their wedding anniversary from 50 years and upwards.

(with AFP)