On Friday, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo stripped Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of the French capital's highest honors due to statements he made about the Holocaust, Hidalgo's office said.

The office explained to Agence France-Presse that Abbas is no longer eligible to carry the Grand Vermeille Medal after he "justified the extermination of European Jews" in World War II.

Hidalgo sent a letter to Abbas on Thursday, saying, "The statements you made contradict our universal values and the historical truth of the Holocaust."

She continued, "Therefore, you can no longer keep this honor," referring to the medal.

Abbas received this honor during his visit to Paris in 2015.

The text of the message was published on the X platform by Jonathan Arvi, head of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions.

Commenting on the decision to strip the medal, Arvi wrote, “This important decision honors Paris and its continued commitment against anti-Semitism.”

On August 24, Abbas told the Fatah Revolutionary Council during a meeting in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, “They say that (Adolf) Hitler killed the Jews because they were Jews, and that Europe hated the Jews because they were Jews.”

He added, "This is not true," considering that the Europeans "fought (the Jews) because of their social role, and because of usury and money, and not because of their religion."

Hidalgo added in her letter, “You (...) justified the extermination of European Jews during World War II with a clear desire to deny the Holocaust,” adding, “I strongly condemn your statements, as there is no justification for distortion and denial.”

An EU spokesman said: “The letter...contains blatantly false and misleading statements about Jews and anti-Semitism.”

The French Consulate in Jerusalem considered these statements “totally unacceptable.”

This is not the first time Abbas has made controversial statements about the Holocaust.

During a visit to Germany in August 2022, Abbas compared the Holocaust to Israel's killing of Palestinians, accusing the Hebrew state of committing "50 massacres and 50 holocausts" against Palestinians since 1947.