Reasons for enmity towards Jews

TheHill.com reports:

Former Secretary of State John Kerry slammed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday after Abbas said Jewish conduct was the root cause of the Holocaust.

Abbas pointed to the Jews' "social behavior" and "their social function related to banks and interest” in a speech on Monday to the Palestinian National Council.

“From the 11th century until the Holocaust that took place in Germany, those Jews — who moved to Western and Eastern Europe — were subjected to a massacre every 10 to 15 years. But why did this happen? They say: ‘It is because we are Jews,’ ” Abbas said.

"I will bring you three Jews, with three books who say that enmity towards Jews was not because of their religious identity but because of their social function."

"This is a different issue. 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," he added, according to the BBC.

The comments have been denounced by various international figures, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

It should not be hard to find 3 such books. He could start with Mein Kampf. That is where Hitler complains about Jewish behavior, such as promoting Marxism and Communism. I don't think he has any complaint about their religious identity, but I could be wrong.

Netanyahu says that Abbas is a Holocaust denier, so I don't why it matters what Abbas says the cause was.

The European foreign service ripped the comments as "unacceptable" in a statement on Wednesday.

"The speech Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas delivered on 30 April contained unacceptable remarks concerning the origins of the Holocaust and Israel's legitimacy," the European External Action Service said.

"Such rhetoric will only play into the hands of those who do not want a two-state solution, which President Abbas has repeatedly advocated."

Nobody wants a two-state solution. Not Israel. Not the Palestinian Arabs. Not the other Arabs.

So we are not supposed to say why Jews have been historically persecuted because it plays to those who do not want something that no one else wants either. Make sense?

Update: Abbas apologized, and condemned the Holocaust as the most heinous crime in history. The U.N. declined a USA request to condemn Abbas. Is everything all good now?