Mike L.
The article highlighted and discussed here was written by Rafael Medoff of JNS.org and published by the algemeiner.
Nazi Germany’s effort to recruit supporters in the Arab world is attracting new attention among scholars.
With the 70th anniversary of a Palestinian Arab leader’s sabotage of a plan to rescue Jewish children from Europe coming up next month, Israeli scholar Edy Cohen spoke exclusively to JNS.org about his current research on the role of Nazi and Axis propaganda in the Middle East. Cohen, 41, is on the staff of the Israel State Archives.
During the Holocaust years, Haj Amin el-Husseini, better known as the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, lived in Berlin, where he recorded pro-Nazi radio broadcasts that were beamed to the Arab world and recruited Bosnian Muslims to join an all-Muslim unit of the SS. Seventy years ago, on May 13, 1943, Husseini caught wind of a plan to permit 4,000 Jewish children, accompanied by 500 adults, to travel to Palestine in exchange for the release of 20,000 German prisoners of war. Both the Germans and the British had agreed to the exchange, but the Germans backed down when the Mufti objected...
Cohen found an internal memo from British police headquarters in Jerusalem in 1939 reporting, “The Arab population in Palestine are listening to the Berlin Broadcasts in Arabic most attentively, particularly in town and village coffee shops where large crowds gather for the purpose.” The report stated that the “uneducated classes are undoubtedly being influenced” by the Nazi propaganda.It doesn't strike me that there is much new presented in this article, but I very much welcome historical research into the relationship between Arab nationalism and Nazi Germany. Dr. Medoff has written a book entitled FDR and the Holocaust: A Breach of Faith which I am looking forward to taking a gander at.
Every once in awhile I like to remind people that the National Socialist influence in the Arab world is a palpable thing and something that we need to be aware of. In a certain kind of way World War II never really ended for the Jews of the Middle East. The Nazis were defeated but their ideology was spread into the Arab and Muslim worlds and very much embedded into organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood and their offsprings, such as Hamas and Qaeda and Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad and all these vicious little groups.
Other scholars to look at on this question include:
Matthias Küntzel (Jihad and Jew-Hatred: Islamism, Nazism and the Roots of 9/11 - 2007)
Edwin Black (The Farhud: The Arab-Nazi Alliance in the Holocaust - 2010
Paul Berman (Terror and Liberalism - 2003, The Flight of the Intellectuals - 2010)
Jeffrey Herf (Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World - 2010)
There is plenty of other material out there, of course, but if anyone is interested in a fair scholarly look at the subject these gentlemen represent a good place to start.
The main thing that I want to say - and that almost nobody wants to hear - is that these ongoing efforts to murder Jews in the Middle East have nothing to do with "social justice."
I find it simply flabbergasting that so many western liberals (and I am a western liberal) think that Arab efforts to kill Jews are justified. They aren't and, yet, they still assume our support.
If the Arabs of the British Mandate had wanted something resembling social justice they would have accepted at least one of the numerous offers for statehood, but they did not.
Why is this so difficult for people to comprehend?
Moreover, Berman, in Flight of the Intellectuals, draws a fairly clear line from al Husseini to Sayyid Qutb of the Muslim Brotherhood to Tariq Ramadan and others of the 'moderate' and liberal European Radical Islamic front who are cravenly catered to by academics, governments and NGO's now.
ReplyDeleteBut the problem is that Israel haters will use this to shift blame from the Arabs to the Nazis thinking "Well this was really the Nazis doing". But since TODAY is the anniversary of the 1921 Jaffa massacre, just as there were massacres in Shiraz Persia in 1898 and Aleppo Syria in 1840 (and innumerable others cataloged at sites like "Point of No Return" http://www.jewishrefugees.blogspot.com/ and would be massacres later on in Hevron and Jerusalem in 1929, 33, 36, and so on the Arabs don't get to shirk their responsibility just because some patronizing liberals want to condescend to them and absolve them of all blame 'Because they were forced to....' by the Nazis which clearly isn't remotely connected to the truth.
In truth if the Nazis never came to the Arab world, the Arabs would have invented them.
At some point, Mike I have to come to the conclusion that not everyone is functionally stupid, or clinically paranoid; that they say what they say because they believe what they believe. We, on the other side of the table look at them and think they can't possibly be that evil so they must be dull and misinformed or naive. I choose to ignore all that. I'm willing to take them at their word. When the NYT runs column after column after column excoriating Israel and not so much as pretending to adhere to journalistic standards or offer any quarter to opposing views let alone facts, then I can only surmise that they're writing what they want because they want to and they believe it. Same goes for all the Jews standing for BDS and inviting some terrorist maniac to lecture them in their own shul about how Israel is evil. Again, I'm willing to agree with them that what they're telling me is actually the unvarnished truth as they see it. When JTS (Jewish Theological Seminary) says nothing when Columbia invites holocaust deniers to speak at Columbia (JTS has a joint degree program with them) then I am willing to admit that they're not fools, that this is what they accept. Oh I really don't care how they pose it - marketplace of ideas and such nonsense. Otherwise they should be mounting a public debate advocating slavery, wife beating and infanticide. Why not? If they're just a marketplace for free ideas then why don't we hear someone speak on all the good things black slavery did? Some cultures don't think rape is a big deal. Where's the open dialog on that?
DeleteNo, it's about supernal irrational Jew hate, that's all it is. And we're the one's cutting them slack, not them. We're the ones permitting them to skate out from under it. Whenever I come across one of these, whomever they are, I tend to ask them very blunt questions like "If there was no Holocaust how come you guys love Hitler so much? Wouldn't that make him a piker?" "If you're supportive of terrorist murder of Jews, where do you live? And I mean that literally, tell me where you live, I'll burn your house down."
It's a great point you make, Empress Trudy. I once wondered how it was possible for a multitude of people to espouse evil. The Bible puts forth the dictum that all human beings have an evil yetzer (passion, inclination—one of those words with no exact translation) and not all of them succeed in overcoming it, a dictum viewed from the absolute reference point. But it is also possible to explain it from the relative reference point: What we consider evil, the other side considers good, and it is no mystery that a multitude could espouse [what they believe is] good.
DeleteI remember going through stages on my thoughts regarding anti-Zionism (and Jew-hatred in general):
1) Surely nobody can be so evil—those people are insane!
2) No, they actually believe their way is good, strange as it may seem to us. And they have a load of justifications for seeing things that way.
3) It doesn't matter what their justifications are—if we walk in their shoes instead of our own, we won't put up a fight and therefore won't survive.
The ramifications of point #3 are far-reaching. I once tried convincing anti-Zionists that their ideology is part and parcel of Jew-hatred, the same old same old with a shiny new package of justifications, but I realized the justifications don't matter and shouldn't be a factor in the debate. Let's make the most charitable assumption that the anti-Zionists' reasons are noble; still anti-Zionism is evil, regardless.
I'll bring the analogy to Greek nationalism once again. (The reason why I favor this analogy is because the Greeks are like us in being an ancient nation whose history and heritage are widely known; it would be as absurd to deny the Jews' connection to the Land of Israel as it would be to deny the Greeks' to Hellas.) Strap your time machine seatbelts for a ride to 1825, when the push toward Greek independence from the Islamic rule of the Ottoman Turks was being made in earnest.
(contd.)
(contd.)
DeleteImagine you're among polished people at a Vienna salon. Some are supportive of Greek independence, some say the status quo of the Hellenes being under Turkish rule should be preserved. How do the latter group justify the continued subjugation of the Greek people? On these lines: "There is a balance of power to preserve, in order to prevent catastrophic turns of events brought about by nationalism as we recently saw. That, after all, is the guiding purpose of the Congress that was held a decade ago."
But, ask the pro-Hellenic patrons, what about the Greek people? Aren't about four centuries of oppression enough? Haven't they suffered long enough under second-class status under Islamic rule and the heart-wrenching practice of devshirme? (In which the Ottoman authorities forcibly took Christian children from their families to be raised to be Muslim soldiers.)
To this, the guardians of the status quo have an answer: "Yes, the Greeks deserve self-determination, but not on expense of regional stability. There is a massive continent with wide open spaces on the other side of the world; let the Greeks move there and set up a new Greece, building there a new Parthenon, everything to make it a home away from home. In this way both Greek self-determination and the balance of power will be served—the best of both worlds."
What can we say? The anti-Hellenic speakers' reasons are indisputably noble. Preserving regional peace is noble, isn't it? But one should not expect the Greeks, or their supporters, to view the suggestion of having a homeland anywhere outside the historic Hellas as anything but a slap in their face, a roughshod treading on their rich history, if not an outright denial of it.
The more honest anti-Zionists say the Jews should have set up their state elsewhere. (Yeah, like a Jewish state in Uganda would be all flowers and buttercups and not a Rhodesia lookalike, with the Leftists leading the charges against it.) I can even agree their reasons might be noble ones. But, I don't care. No matter their reasons, people who suggest the Jews should have chosen someplace else after two millennia of persecution all over the globe aren't friends of ours. Even if they honestly think they're raining on us, I for one know exactly what that liquid really is.
I want front page material from you guys.
DeleteThese last three comments alone would be good for a number of articles if you would write them as such.
Let me ask you, does anyone in the pro-Jewish blogosphere get the kind of thoughtful and articulate and grammatical (and provocative) comments that we do?
I do not think so.
So write for the front page.
Trudy already has front page access and Zion can have it for the asking.
I have to say, there is an awful lot of underutilized talent out there and you people (ladies and gents) are among them.
Mike, I'm really glad you think my stuff that's good. I accept your invitation to write for the front page, although I have to request your understanding that my writing may be intermittent. You know it's sometimes weeks between one comment of mine and another, due to unforeseen events (usually related to work); this could also affect writing for the front page, as well as the fact that I write only when I have the brainwaves giving me the stuff to write.
DeleteRight now I have one or two ideas for front page editorials. I hope I'll have more, and the time to write them. Thanks for your kind words and invitation.
(Oh, and I'm unavailable during Israel's Shabbat hours. That's another factor in my writing schedule.)
I appreciate that very much, Zion.
DeleteShoot me an email, if you will.
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Delete"Conquer anger
Deletewith lack of anger;
bad, with good;
stinginess, with a gift;
a liar, with truth."
-- The Buddha, Dhammapada, Chapter 17 - Kodhavagga: Anger ( http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.17.than.html#dhp-223 )
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ReplyDeleteAccording to Dieter Wisliceny, one of Adolf Eichmann’s chief lieutenants in the 'Final Solution':
ReplyDelete“The Mufti [Haj Amin al-Husseini] is a sworn enemy of the Jews and has always fought for the idea of annihilating the Jews. He sticks to this idea always, also in his talks with [Adolf] Eichmann ... The Mufti is one of the originators of the systematic destruction of European Jewry by the Germans, and he has become a permanent colleague, partner and adviser to Eichmann...in the implementation of this programme.”
http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/e/eichmann-adolf/transcripts/Sessions/Session-050-07.html
Fatah-PLO is the organization that is most directly the legacy of Haj Amin al-Husseini.
Fatah was founded, under the influence of Haj Amin al-Husseini, by veterans of Haj Amin al-Husseini's organization the Arab Higher Committee. Haj Amin al-Husseini was the mentor of Yasser Arafat. Haj Amin al-Husseini recruited German former Nazi officials to train Yasser Arafat and other "Arab nationalists" in terrorism soon after World War II.
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- Ideologically genocidal anti-Jewish programming on Fatah-PLO television
- Repeated refusals by the leaders of Fatah-PLO (now called "the Palestinian Authority") to accept offers of a "Palestinian" Arab state (a second "Palestinian" state in addition to the "Palestinian" Arab state Jordan) with the condition of the existence of the Jewish state
- Repeated stating, in Arabic, by leaders of Fatah-PLO, the intention to destroy Israel and the refusal to accept the existence of a Jewish state
- Fatah-PLO has murdered hundreds of Jewish people in Israel
- Fatah-PLO was originated by a co-architect of the Nazi 'Final Solution'
- The British Mandate of Palestine included what is now Jordan
- Jordan occupied "The West Bank" (Judea and Sameria) from 1949 to 1967 and Egypt occupied "The Gaza Strip" from 1949 to 1967 and Fatah was founded in 1958 and the PLO was founded in 1964
- The PLO Charter:
“Armed struggle is a strategy and not a tactic and the Palestinian Arab people's armed revolution is a decisive factor in the liberation fight and in uprooting the Zionist existence, and this struggle will not cease unless the Zionist state is demolished and Palestine is completely liberated.”
Correction:
DeleteNot: "PLO Charter"
Rather: "Fatah Charter/Covenant/Constitution"
http://www.mythsandfacts.org/Conflict/statute-treaties/fateh_constitution.htm
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Addendum:
The 1964 PLO Charter:
- explicitly refers to "The West Bank" (Judea and Sameria) and "The Gaza Strip" as being land that the PLO DOES NOT CLAIM SOVEREIGNTY OVER
- written during time when Jordan was occupying "The West Bank" (Judea and Sameria) and during time when Egypt was occupying "The Gaza Strip")
- claims sovereignty over Israel (which the 1964 PLO Charter calls "Palestine")
http://www.un.int/wcm/content/site/palestine/pid/12363
The 1968 revised, and current, PLO Charter:
- refers to "The West Bank" (Judea and Sameria) and "The Gaza Strip" as being land that the PLO DOES CLAIM SOVEREIGNTY OVER
- written after Israel defeated attack by armies of surrounding Arab states and when Israel was then in control of "The West Bank" (Judea and Sameria) and "The Gaza Strip"
- claims sovereignty over Israel (which the PLO Charter refers to as being included in what the 1968 PLO Charter calls "Palestine")
- states: "Palestine, with the boundaries it had during the British Mandate, is an indivisible territorial unit." (However: The British Mandate of Palestine included what is now Jordan. Why isn't the PLO publicly claiming sovereignty over Jordan? Because Jordan isn't the Jewish state.)
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/plocov.asp
"Protecting oneself, one protects others; protecting others, one protects oneself."
ReplyDelete-- The Buddha, Satipatthana Samyutta, No. 19 ( http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nyanaponika/bl034.html )
"The non-doing of any evil,
the performance of what's skillful,
the cleansing of one's own mind:
this is the teaching
of the Awakened."
-- The Buddha, Dhammapada, Chapter 14 - Buddhavagga: Awakened ( http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.14.than.html#dhp-183 )