Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has released a statement clarifying his remarks earlier this week that Hitler only decided to carry out the Holocaust after being convinced by a Palestinian leader.
Ahead of a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, Mr Netanyahu linked his comments to the wave of terror currently sweeping Israel, saying "To stop the murders, it is necessary to stop the incitement."
He said: "I had no intention to absolve Hitler of responsibility for his diabolical destruction of European Jewry. Hitler was responsible for the Final Solution to exterminate six million Jews. He made the decision. It is equally absurd to ignore the role played by the Mufti, Haj Amin al -Husseini, a war criminal, for encouraging and urging Hitler, Ribbentropp, Himmler and others, to exterminate European Jewry. There is much evidence about this, including the testimony of Eichmann's deputy at the Nuremberg trials, not now, but after World War II.
"The Mufti was instrumental in the decision to exterminate the Jews of Europe. The importance of his role must not be ignored. The Mufti repeatedly proposed to the authorities, primarily Hitler, Ribbentropp and Himmler, to exterminate the Jews of Europe. He considered it a suitable solution for the Palestinian question."
He continued: "Unfortunately, Haj Amin al-Husseini is still a revered figure in Palestinian society, he appears in textbooks and it is taught that he is one of the founding fathers of the nation, and this incitement that started then with him, inciting the murder of Jews - continues. Not in the same format, but in a different one and this is the root of the problem. To stop the murders, it is necessary to stop the incitement.
"What is important is to recognise the historical facts and not ignore them, not then and not today".
