Holocaust Denier Abbas Makes Wild, Baseless Claim ‘The Temples Were in Yemen, Not in Yerushalayim’

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, a holocaust denier, falsely claimed in an interview last week that the two Batei Mikdash were not in Yerushalayim, but in Yemen, against Tanach, mountains of historical evidence and written testimonies of non-Jews who lived at the time.

In a speech at the 32nd PLO Central Council meeting in Ramallah last Wednesday, Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel, without evidence, of plotting to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and replace it with a temple.

“In the Noble Quran – and I believe in other divine books as well – it is written that the temples were in Yemen,” Abbas declared confidently. “People who like to read about religion can check this out.” The remarks were published on the MEMRI website.

The Quran was written in Saudi Arabia almost a millennium after the destruction of the First Beis Hamikdash. Tanach references Yerushalayim hundreds of times as the seat of the kings of the Davidic line and as the location of the Beis Hamikdash. Romans who lived during the Second Beis Hamikdash speak of it in their books, including Tacitus and Apion, both of whom were virulently antisemitic. It is further attested to by Josephus, the Jewish historian who lived during the 2nd Beis Hamikdash era.

Abbas’ false statements continued the long tradition of the Palestinian Authority in attempting to erase the Jewish connection to Yerushalayim for political reasons. “The Jews say this is ours and this was ours, and here was Solomon’s Temple,” said Abbas. “I tell you, a large part of history is fake.”

Similarly, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat claimed during the Camp David summit in 2000 that the Temple Mount never existed in Jerusalem, insisting, without evidence, that it was in Nablus.

Abbas, who has no training in history, has denied the scope of the Holocaust, accusing Israel of inflating the death toll, despite the universal consensus of non-Jewish scholars. He also accepted the Nazis’ propaganda about Jews in several speeches.