Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas claimed that the first and second Jewish temples were in Yemen, not Jerusalem, during a PLO central council meeting. Abbas accused Israel of trying to change the historical and legal status of the Islamic and Christian holy places, particularly the Al-Aqsa Mosque. While his claims are not supported by historical or archaeological records, they are consistent with a pattern of denying a meaningful historical Jewish presence in Jerusalem by Palestinian leaders. This is not the first time Abbas has shared controversial versions of Jewish history, as he has previously made statements minimizing the Holocaust and questioning the existence of gas chambers.