Palestinian leader retracts rabbi water poisoning allegation

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday retracted his claim that Israeli rabbis had urged followers to poison Palestinian water sources, after strong condemnation from Israel's prime minister who called it "blood libel".

"After it became evident that the alleged statements by a rabbi on poisoning Palestinian wells, reported by various media outlets, are baseless, President Abbas has affirmed that he didn't intend to harm Judaism or to offend Jewish people around the world," a statement from Abbas' office read.

The remarks were made in a speech to the European parliament in Brussels on Thursday, where the PA leader condemned Israeli excesses and urged the EU to end Israeli "provocations".

In his speech Abbas said that "certain rabbis in Israel have said very clearly to their government that our water should be poisoned in order to have Palestinians killed".

A similar story about rabbis inciting followers to poison water sources was reported in the Turkish press earlier in June, but the story was swiftly debunked.