The White House warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday against “inflammatory rhetoric” after he claimed that the Palestinian Grand Mufti, Hajj Amin Al-Husseini, incited Hitler to commit the Holocaust in Germany.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu said that Hitler had not planned to kill the Jews but that the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem incited him to do so in 1941.
In response to this claim, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said: “I don’t think there’s any doubt here at the White House who is responsible for the Holocaust that killed six million Jews.”
“We here continue to stress publicly and privately … the importance of preventing inflammatory rhetoric, accusations or actions on both sides [that] can feed the violence.”
“We believe that inflammatory rhetoric needs to stop,” said Schultz.
Netanyahu’s comments were widely criticised by Palestinian leaders and the Israeli opposition, who accused him of distorting history, while historians called his statements inaccurate.
The White House’s reaction comes after US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Netanyahu in Berlin during which he urged the Palestinians and Israelis to stop all incitement.