The Palestinian Broadcasting Corp. Thursday defended a program on official Palestinian TV in which the host and a guest said Jews profited from the Holocaust and inflated the number of victims.
The comments were made on a cultural affairs program, aired earlier this week, during a discussion between the host, Mohammed Buji, and two Palestinian writers, Hassam Agha and Odeh Abu Aza.The Holocaust came up in the context of violent acts by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians.
According to a transcript, Buji said: "It is well-known that every year the Jews exaggerate what the Nazis did to them. They claim there were 6 million killed, but precise scientific research demonstrates that there were no more than 400,000."
The transcript quotes Agha as saying that Jews have "profited materially, spiritually, politically and economically from the talk about the Nazi killings.
"This investment is favorable to them and they view it as a profitable activity, so they inflate the number of victims all the time," Agha said, according to the transcript.
The transcript was provided by the office of David Bar-Illan, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Bar-Illan accused Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority of anti-Semitism.
"It is regrettable that an official outlet of the Palestinian Authority has stooped to Holocaust denial, coupled with an allusion to Jewish venality and greed," he said.
The chairman of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corp., Radwan Abu Ayyash, confirmed the general content of the transcript but said he did not know whether every word was quoted accurately.
Abu Ayyash said the two men were entitled to express their views and added he did not consider the remarks offensive.
"I do not see in this anything against Jews or against anybody. The Israelis cannot prevent people from saying what they want," he said.
About 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust during World War II.