No, Abbas didn't apologize. Here's what he said and what he means.

Mahmoud Abbas, under pressure from the West, pretended to apologize for his antisemitic statements given last Sunday.

Based on what he and other Palestinian and Arab leaders have said over the years, here's the translation of each section of his so-called apology:

President Mahmoud Abbas stated on Friday that “if people were offended by my statement in front of the PNC, especially people of the Jewish faith, I apologize to them. I would like to assure everyone that it was not my intention to do so, and to reiterate my full respect for the Jewish faith, as well as other monotheistic faiths.”

I didn't say anything wrong. I have nothing to apologize for. Honestly, I am mystified about why what I said offended anyone, but, you know, Jews control the media so they made a big deal over this in order to discredit me. However, I know that I'm expected to apologize for something, so I'll just say that I'm sorry you decided to interpret my comments in a way that offends you. (See what I did there?)

Of course I respect Judaism and Christianity, because the Koran says that they are divine religions. However, the place for Christians and Jews in the Muslim world, and in Palestine in particular,  is as second class citizens at best.

 “I would also like to reiterate our long held condemnation of the Holocaust, as the most heinous crime in history, and express our sympathy with its victims.”

The Holocaust was heinous because it prompted Jews to come to Palestine and the UN to allow Israel to become a state. The Palestinian Arab exodus from Palestine is the real catastrophe (Nakba.) Therefore, the Palestinians are the major victims of the Holocaust and I express sympathy for them.

“Likewise, we condemn anti-Semitism in all its forms, and confirm our commitment to the two-state solution, and to live side by side in peace and security.”

Arabs are Semites, so therefore we are against anti-Semitism. As I said in my speech, Jews aren't Semites - they descend from the Khazars.  So anti-Semitism is anti-Arabism, and Jews are the world's biggest anti-Semites. 

I have not retracted my statement that Jewish conduct is what brought the Holocaust upon them.  I still believe that the people that call themselves Jews today have no historic rights to Israel. I still believe that the Jews who came to Palestine intended to build a colonialist outpost in the Middle East, not the nonsense of "return to Zion."  I still believe that there were no massacres of any Jews by Arabs in history. I still maintain that the Arabs who killed scores of  Jews in 1920, 1921, 1929 and 1936 were "revolutionaries" and heroes, not murderers.

I said all of those things in my speech and I have not backed down one iota from any of those points. 

But I will allow "Israel" - not a Jewish state, but "Israel" - the right to exist until we are strong enough by any means to defeat them and claim all the land that is rightfully ours.

If anyone can find anything that Abbas ever said that contradicts my explanation of his words, I will be happy to correct it. But everything I wrote in italics here reflects mainstream Palestinian Arab thought - and it is deeply and endemically antisemitic.

The gullible West will accept this "apology" as legitimate because the truth isn't as important as the urge to continue to prop up this dictatorial bigot as the great hope for peace.

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