(see related)
Three-time premier Silvio
Berlusconi on Monday said his claim that Germans denied the
existence of concentration camps "was extrapolated out of
context" by "the European left", and affirmed his "historic
friendship with the Jewish people and the State of Israel".
He added that he was the victim of a "campaign trap" ahead
of European elections on May 25.
Over the weekend the media magnate and centre-right leader
said "for the Germans, the concentration camps never existed,"
in a fresh attack on his old foe, European Parliament Speaker
Martin Schulz, whom he described as a death-camp trusty in a
widely criticised jab after taking over the EU's rotating
presidency in 2003.
Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Feibert on Monday said
the claim "was so absurd that the German government won't
comment".
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