The United States and European Union on Thursday criticised remarks about the World War Two persecution of Jews and antisemitism by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

In a statement, the EU's diplomatic service said the 87-year-old Abbas's remarks, made in late August to a meeting of his Fatah movement's Revolutionary Council, were "false and grossly misleading".

Deborah Lipstadt, U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, called for an immediate apology for what she said were Abbas's "hateful, antisemitic remarks".

There was no immediate comment from Abbas. Members of his Fatah party did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

In his remarks Abbas said Jews were targeted by Nazi Germany because of their "social role" rather than their religion.

"This has been explained by many Jewish authors. When they said that Hitler killed the Jews for being Jews, and that Europe hates the Jews because they were Jews, no. It was clearly explained that they fought (the Jews) because of their social role and not their religion," Abbas said.

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In a statement, the foreign affairs spokesman for the EU, one of the major donors to the Palestinian Authority, called the remarks "an insult to the millions of victims of the Holocaust and their families".

"Such historical distortions are inflammatory, deeply offensive, can only serve to exacerbate tensions in the region and serve no one's interests," he said. "They play into the hands of those who do not want a two-state solution, which President Abbas has repeatedly advocated for."