Author who railed against Jews quits as speaker for Dutch Holocaust commemoration following storm of

[Behind the Aegis]

Author who railed against Jews quits as speaker for Dutch Holocaust commemoration following storm of criticism

Amid protest by prominent Dutch Holocaust survivors, an author who called Gaza “a ghetto” and said he feels uncomfortable around Jews has stepped down as keynote speaker of the national ceremony commemorating victims of the genocide.

In a statement published Thursday on the website of the National 4 and 5 May Committee, Dutch-Moroccan author Abdelkader Benali wrote that on the national commemoration day, “we come together to commemorate and the discussion around my remarks must not distract from that. So I’ve decided it’s better if someone else deliver the speech.”

Benali, who was named Monday by the committee as keynote speaker, said in 2006 during a conversation with a journalist that southern Amsterdam “is full of Jews. And that’s annoying that there are so many of them. Amsterdam Jews. Makes you feel uneasy as a Moroccan. It looks like Israel. So many Jews, it just feels crazy.”

In an interview published Wednesday in Het Parool newspaper, Benali acknowledged that “I made those remarks,” but that it was during the Second Lebanon War and that “We blew off steam. I was drunk during the party. It was black humor, irony and tastelessness, which, in retrospect were misplaced.”

He added: “I understand that Jews are offended by these remarks if they don’t know the circumstances. I didn’t mean it. I distance myself from those remarks, they weren’t meant literally. I also have Jewish friends and interview Jewish authors.”

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The classic non-apology apology,, followed by the classic "but, I am the real victim here" and the "some of my best friends" defense. Typical.