German President Looks to Placate Israel with Visit after PA President’s Statements

 German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R) and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas hold a joint press conference at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on August 16, 2022. (Jens Schlueter/AFP)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R) and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas hold a joint press conference at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on August 16, 2022. (Jens Schlueter/AFP)
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German President Looks to Placate Israel with Visit after PA President’s Statements

 German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R) and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas hold a joint press conference at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on August 16, 2022. (Jens Schlueter/AFP)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R) and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas hold a joint press conference at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on August 16, 2022. (Jens Schlueter/AFP)

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, according to an Israeli official, is considering flying to Israel in a bid to placate the Jewish state after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s inflammatory comments on Tuesday, in which he claimed that Israel had carried out “50 holocausts” against Palestinians.

Steinmeier would bring with him a new and generous proposal for the purpose of reconciliation with the families of the Israeli athletes who were killed in the Munich massacre.

On Sept. 5, 1972, members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage at the poorly secured athletes' village by Palestinian gunmen from the Black September group.

Within 24 hours, 11 Israelis, five Palestinians and a German policeman were dead after a standoff and subsequent rescue effort erupted into gunfire.

“The president and other German officials are outraged by Abbas’s statements; Because it caused them great embarrassment that brought to mind the horrors of a dark history, so they are now ready to do anything to please Israel,” an Israeli official said.

“They are studying the possibility of the German president admitting his country's shortcomings in protecting the Israeli athletes, who were killed during the Munich Olympics 50 years ago, and declaring the government's responsibility for this failure and its consequences,” they added.

Steinmeier is considering flying to Israel in a bid to convince the families of the Munich massacre victims to attend commemorations in Germany after they decided they would boycott the events.

The families of the 11 Israeli athletes killed in Munich are refusing to attend after rejecting a German compensation offer as insulting.

The German government has agreed to pay a compensation of 5.5 million euros (in addition to the 4.5 million euros it paid to these families in the past), while the families are requesting compensation of up to about 90 million euros.

Germany responded by saying that 90 million euros was unreasonable.



WHO Chief Says He Was at Yemen Airport as Israeli Bombs Fell Nearby

FILE: A crater is seen on the tarmac of the international airport of Yemen's capital Sanaa, April 29, 2015. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
FILE: A crater is seen on the tarmac of the international airport of Yemen's capital Sanaa, April 29, 2015. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
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WHO Chief Says He Was at Yemen Airport as Israeli Bombs Fell Nearby

FILE: A crater is seen on the tarmac of the international airport of Yemen's capital Sanaa, April 29, 2015. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
FILE: A crater is seen on the tarmac of the international airport of Yemen's capital Sanaa, April 29, 2015. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

A wave of Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen's main airport Thursday just as the World Health Organization’s director-general said he was about to board a flight there. One of the UN plane’s crew was wounded, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X.

The Israeli military said it attacked infrastructure used by Yemen's Houthis at the international airport in the capital Sanaa, as well as power stations and ports, alleging they were used to smuggle in Iranian weapons and for the entry of senior Iranian officials, The AP reported.

UN associate spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay said the rest of the U.N. team left the airport and are “safe and sound” in Sanaa, and the injured crew member is being treated in a hospital, she said.

Last week, Israeli jets bombed Sanaa and Hodeida, killing nine people. The US military also has targeted the Houthis in Yemen in recent days.

Israel's latest wave of strikes in Yemen follows several days of Houthi launches setting off air-raid sirens in Israel. The Houthis have also been targeting shipping in the Red Sea corridor, calling it solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel's war in Gaza has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count.