(Communicated by the PM's Media Advisor)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, (Wednesday 21 October 2015) made the following remarks before departing to Berlin:
"I am departing now to Berlin to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, at her invitation. We will discuss with the leader of one of the major European countries about the situation here, the need to stop Palestinian incitement and the key security issues that Germany is assisting Israel with. Germany is a very important partner for Israel in regards to our national security.
Tomorrow I will also, meet with United States Secretary of State John Kerry and I will discuss with him ways to calm the situation. Of course, I will again request that he demand Abu Mazen to cease the incitement that is the source of multiple attacks that we see here. In order to halt the killing the incitement must be halted.
It is absurd. I had no intention to absolve Hitler of responsibility for his diabolical destruction of European Jewry. Hitler was responsible for the Final Solution to exterminate six million Jews. He made the decision. It is equally absurd to ignore the role played by the Mufti, Haj Amin al-Husseini, a war criminal, for encouraging and urging Hitler, Ribbentropp, Himmler and others, to exterminate European Jewry. There is much evidence about this, including the testimony of Eichmann's deputy at the Nuremberg trials, not now, but after World War II. He said:
'The Mufti was instrumental in the decision to exterminate the Jews of Europe. The importance of his role must not be ignored. The Mufti repeatedly proposed to the authorities, primarily Hitler, Ribbentropp and Himmler, to exterminate the Jews of Europe. He considered it a suitable solution for the Palestinian question'.
Eichmann's deputy added:
'The Mufti was one of the instigators of the systematic extermination of European Jewry and was a partner and adviser to Eichmann and Hitler for carrying out this plan'.
The attempt by certain scholars and people to be apologists for the key and important role of Haj Amin al-Husseini, is clear. Many other researchers cite this testimony and others regarding the role of Haj Amin al Husseini.
My intention was not to absolve Hitler of his responsibility, but rather to show that the forefathers of the Palestinian nation, without a country and without the so-called 'occupation', without land and without settlements, even then aspired to systematic incitement to exterminate the Jews.
Unfortunately, Haj Amin al-Husseini is still a revered figure in Palestinian society, he appears in textbooks and it is taught that he is one of the founding fathers of the nation, and this incitement that started then with him, inciting the murder of Jews - continues. Not in the same format, but in a different one and this is the root of the problem. To stop the murders, it is necessary to stop the incitement.
What is important is to recognize the historical facts and not ignore them, not then and not today".