text: JERUSALEM — After more than a week of local and international condemnation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel issued a statement on Friday retracting his accusation that it was a Palestinian cleric who gave Hitler the idea of annihilating Europe’s Jews during World War II. 
   
   Mr. Netanyahu, criticized even by Israeli historians for distorting facts, had already said he never intended to absolve Hitler of responsibility for the Holocaust by blaming the mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, but the new statement went further. 
   
   “The decision to move from a policy of deporting Jews to the Final Solution was made by the Nazis and was not dependent on outside influence,” Mr. Netanyahu posted on Facebook, in Hebrew and English. “The Nazis saw in the Mufti a collaborator, but they did not need him to decide on the systematic destruction of European Jewry, which began in June 1941.” 
   
   He went on: “Contrary to the impression that was created, I did not mean to claim that in his conversation with Hitler in November 1941 the Mufti convinced him to adopt the Final Solution. The Nazis decided on that by themselves.” 
   
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   That description aligns with the prevailing view of Holocaust historians, but was contradicted by Mr. Netanyahu in a speech on Oct. 20 to the World Zionist Congress where he recounted the meeting between Hitler and Mr. Husseini. “Hitler didn’t want to exterminate the Jews at the time — he wanted to expel the Jews,” Mr. Netanyahu said in his speech. He quoted the mufti as saying, “If you expel them, they’ll all come here,” referring to Palestine, and then said Hitler had asked, “So what should I do with them?” The mufti replied, “Burn them,” according to Mr. Netanyahu. 
   
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   Historians declared his account to be a lie that appeases Holocaust denial, and many political analysts said Mr. Netanyahu’s speech undermined his own accusations that President Mahmoud Abbas of The Palestinian Authority was peddling falsehoods. But the controversy had mostly died down, making the timing of Mr. Netanyahu’s Facebook post — on a Friday afternoon, a quiet time in the Israeli news media — curious. ||||| Israeli PM says he did not intend to absolve Hitler of his responsibility for the Holocaust 
   
   Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has backtracked on controversial comments he made last week during which he said a Muslim elder had convinced Adolf Hitler to exterminate Jews. 
   
   Netanyahu caused widespread outcry when he claimed that Adolf Hitler had no intention of killing the Jews, but only wished to expel them. According to the Israeli prime minister, the idea for mass extermination came from the then-Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini. 
   
   "I wish to clarify my remarks about the connection between the Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini and the Nazis," Netanyahu wrote on his Facebook page. "In no way did I intend to absolve Hitler of his responsibility for the Holocaust. Hitler and the Nazi leadership are responsible for the murder of six million Jews." 
   
   In contrast to his previous remarks, Netanyahu wrote Friday that "the decision to move from a policy of deporting Jews to the Final Solution was made by the Nazis and was not dependent on outside influence. The Nazis saw in the Mufti a collaborator, but they did not need him to decide on the systematic destruction of European Jewry, which began in June 1941." 
   
   "Still, the Mufti was one of those who supported the Nazi goal of destroying the Jews," Netanyahu continued. "He conducted his activities from Berlin during the war, disseminated virulent anti-Semitic propaganda on behalf the Nazis, recruited Muslims to the SS, demanded that after conquering the Middle East the Nazis destroy the Jewish national home and vigorously opposed the emigration of Jews – even children – from the Nazi inferno, knowing full well that this would seal their fate." 
   
   The prime minister said that his remarks were intended to illustrate the murderous approach of the Mufti to the Jews in his lengthy contacts with the Nazi leadership. "Contrary to the impression that was created, I did not mean to claim that in his conversation with Hitler in November 1941 the Mufti convinced him to adopt the Final Solution. The Nazis decided on that by themselves." 
   
   He said it was "absurd" that his remarks were interpreted as though he absolved the Nazis of "even one ounce of responsibility" for the Holocaust. 
   
   "It was important for me to point out that even before World War II it was the Mufti who propagated the big lie that the Jews intend to destroy the al-Aqsa mosque," Netanyahu wrote. "This lie lives on and continues to exact a price in blood." 
   
   Netanyahu's original comments were heavily criticized throughout Israel and the international community. Germany even reiterated that responsibility for the Holocaust lay with the Germans. 
   
   "All Germans know the history of the murderous race mania of the Nazis that led to the break with civilization that was the Holocaust," Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said when asked about Netanyahu's remarks. 
   
   "This is taught in German schools for good reason, it must never be forgotten. And I see no reason to change our view of history in any way. We know that responsibility for this crime against humanity is German and very much our own." 
   
   In a speech at the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem, Netanyahu described a meeting between Husseini and Hitler in November, 1941: 
   
   "Hitler didn’t want to exterminate the Jews at the time, he wanted to expel the Jews. And Haj Amin al-Husseini went to Hitler and said, 'If you expel them, they'll all come here.' 'So what should I do with them?' he asked. He said, 'Burn them.'" 
   
   Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas responded to Netanyahu's claims, saying that the Israeli leader had exonerated Hitler and was implicating Haj Amin al-Husseini for the "heinous crime that was committed against the Jews." 
   
   He concluded, "In this vicious and despicable manner, Netanyahu wishes to fabricate history." 
   
   The claim that Husseini came up with the idea of the extermination of European Jewry has been proposed by some historians at the fringes of Holocaust research, but is generally rejected as a theory. 
   
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target: – Unusually for an Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has had to clarify his position on who he thinks caused the Holocaust. In a Facebook post, Netanyahu backtracked from earlier remarks suggesting the extermination of European Jews was a Palestinian's idea, reports i24. "The decision to move from a policy of deporting Jews to the Final Solution was made by the Nazis and was not dependent on outside influence," said Netanyahu, though he stressed that Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini supported the Holocaust and collaborated with the Nazis. "My remarks were intended to illustrate the murderous approach of the Mufti to the Jews in his lengthy contacts with the Nazi leadership," Netanyahu wrote. "The interpretation of my remarks as though I absolved the Nazis of even one ounce of responsibility for the Holocaust is absurd." The Israeli leader's Oct. 20 remarks were widely condemned by historians and the New York Times finds it odd that he waited until Friday afternoon, when the controversy had almost completely died down, to clarify them. (Netanyahu's remarks caused Germany to issue a statement saying the Holocaust was indeed Hitler's fault.)