Paris strips Palestinian leader Abbas of special honor for remarks on Holocaust

PARIS (AP) — Paris has rescinded a special honor it bestowed on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas because of recent antisemitic comments minimizing the Holocaust. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo published a letter Friday saying that “your remarks run counter to universal values and the historical truth of the Holocaust.” She noted that tens of thousands of Jews were rounded up in Paris under the Nazi occupation. Hidalgo awarded Abbas the city’s highest honor in 2015 for his efforts toward peace in the Middle East and a two-state solution. In the Holocaust, 6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis and their allies.