An editorial in The New York Times published Thursday described a speech given earlier this week by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s as “vile” and called on him to leave office.

The speech, which Abbas gave at the first meeting of the Palestinian National Council in 22 years on Sunday, attributed persecution of Jews to “social behavior” rather than religion. The speech has been widely condemned as anti-Semitic.

The Times argued that by “feeding reprehensible anti-Semitic myths and conspiracy theories,” Abbas had “shed all credibility as a trustworthy partner” for future negotiations with Israel. The Times reported in January that Abbas said that he would not participate in United States-led negotiations with Israel.

The editorial also noted that Abbas has a long history of espousing anti-Semitism including his thesis, which questioned how many Jews were killed during the Holocaust.

The editorial further described other of Abbas’s failings as a leader including presiding over “a governing system plagued by corruption and dysfunction.” The Times denounced his refusal to stand for reelection  and thus “overstaying his term by many years and preventing younger leaders from emerging,” as well as his failure to unify the Palestinians under his rule in the West Bank and those in Gaza ruled by Hamas.

However, the editors concluded that Sunday’s “vile speech was a new low,” and that it signaled “it is time for him to leave office.”

[Photo: euronews (em português) / YouTube ]