You might recall Netanyahu got a lot of flak for a speech last week where he claimed Hitler intended only to deport Jews till he had a single meeting with a Palestinian leader who changed his mind. Which prompted the Germans to essentially say, No, we did it. Numerous historians issued public statements rejecting Netanyahu's claims and Chemi Shalev writing in Haaretz reminded us that a small subset of Israeli politicians (including Netanyahu's father) and their supporters have tried to pin the blame for the holocaust on the Mufti for over 70 years.
In a Friday evening newsdump, the Israeli Prime Minister's office issued a statement on Facebook:
I wish to clarify my remarks about the connection between the Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini and the Nazis. 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. 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.
[...]
My 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.
the statement has another three paragraphs on various other faults the Mufti had. The NY Times is
covering the clarification, as are the Israeli papers.
Which makes you wonder, if Netanyahu is wrong about the past, how should we treat his statements about the present and the future?
Israel's Atomic Energy Commission announced this week that it supports the Iran nuclear deal. The commission advises the IDF and the Israeli government on nuclear issues and said it is convinced the agreement will be effective. In a rather delicious irony, Netanyahu chairs the commission.