Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's assertion that a Palestinian mufti was responsible for the Holocaust risks undermining congressional efforts to lay the blame for the current violence squarely at the feet of the Palestinians.
The Israeli leader's comment Oct. 20 before the World Zionist Congress that Adolf Hitler only wanted to expel the Jews of Europe before Haj Amin al-Husseini urged him to "burn them" provoked outrage across the political spectrum in Israel. It also complicates efforts by Israel's allies in the United States to place the blame for incitement solely on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.