The Real Roots of Arab / Palestinian Nazism
Posted by Oyster on August 21, 2006
One of the common lines of rhetoric you’ll hear Palestinians use is, “We did not perpetrate the Holocaust, so why are you punishing the Palestinians for Europe’s problems? We had nothing to do with it!”
They wish it were so. The truth is actually the exact opposite. They were directly involved. Why am I not surprised by their use of the Big Lie technique?
And these are then the same people who will wave Israeli flags with the swastika replacing the Star of David at anti-Israel rallies. Cuz, you know, they are so anti-fascist and not Antisemitic ( HaShem help you all if anyone replies with the straw-man line of, “but, but, but… Arabs are semites, too!”).
It’s a shame that Marnina Cherkin and Amy M. Stein of the Central Pacific Region of the Anti-Defamation League, in this context, found their calling in criticizing pro-Israel activists for being meanies in this recent article in the J Weekly, and completely failed to report on the blatantly Antisemitic material that was photographed at the August 12th Anti-Israel rally in SF. Of course those advocating for Israel should be civil and not stoop to the level of those who gleefully desire Israel’s destruction. But isn’t the ADL’s primary mission to fight Antisemitism? Or is that too parochial? On a related note, here are photos of the pro-Israel side of the rally (since ZombieTime focuses on the Antisemitic material on the Pali side) from my long-time friend Sasha. (And if their article wasn’t enough, their website has the inane line, “Northern California (including San Jose, but excluding Bakersfield)”. What the hell?!)
The proverbial elephant in the room on this issue is the Jew-hating Grand Mufti Al-Husseini of Jerusalem, the most influential Arab leader in the Middle East during the 1920’s through 1940’s. He was a personal friend of Adolf Hitler, helped align the Arab and Muslim world with the Axis forces with propaganda, and even formed Muslim SS death-squads to cleanse Yugoslavia of Jews. Locally, he was the architect of the bloody anti-Jewish riots in British Mandatory Palestine during the 1920’s. This is when Hebron, one of the four holy cities of Judaism, where many of our Patriarchs and Matriarchs are buried, was made Judenrein for the first time in thousands of years. Every Jew was either butchered or chased out of the city. Oh, yeah, and he’s the uncle of Yasser Arafat.
Please read more about this direct link between the birth of Arab/Palestinian nationalism and Nazism, and never let people try to get away
with the line that there was no connection between the Arab’s politics and Nazism. (side note: This is one reason why the phrase “Islamo-fascist” is not without basis. And the phrase is not bigoted. The same way no one would hesistate to call the JDL a ‘Jewish terrorist group’, there’s nothing inherently wrong with calling a group of Muslims who pervert Islam to sanction terrorism ‘Islamic terrorists, or fascists’)
Hat tip to Sasha for his expert photography, and Jewlicious for the YouTube video.
Oy Bay! 
alilyamongthorns said
I completely agree with you about the extreme stupidity and annoyance of the line, “Arabs can’t be anti-Semitic because they’re Semites too.” You can’t hear but I said that in a whining voice as I wrote it. First of all, yes, in common language, anti-Semitism means anti-Jewish. It’s like calling someone a faggot and then saying you just meant a bunch of sticks tied together. Second of all, what’s the point? I mean all someone has to say in response is fine, you’re/they’re anti-Jewish. Still just as bad…
However, I disagree with you about ADL’s article. I think they’re right to speak out against those who make anti-Muslim remarks. Like you said, one of ADL’s goals is to combat anti-Semitism and speaking out against those Jews who say hateful things against others is part of that. When a Jew (especially at a Jewish or pro-Israel event, when they are representing the Jewish people) says something about another’s race or color, it simply serves to spread hatred of Jews among others. Not only will that remark not help bring the person it was directed at around to supporting Jews but it could also be used as propaganda to further spread hate toward Jews. This is proof, after all, that Jews hate Muslims, they will say. Also, that article appeared in a Jewish newspaper. If they denounced anti-Semitism they’d just be preaching to the choir. It’s a much better use of space to talk about our own prejudices.
BTW, thanks for putting up all those links. It really helped me follow along.
shiduri said
if the jewish people are to survive, we must respect and defend the human dignity of others — even our enemies (of course, there are a few exceptions: Hitler, Ahmadinejad, and Nasrallah come to mind…) once we lose the social justice component of our cultural character, we become no better than the rest…
Oyster said
As I stated:
Of course those advocating for Israel should be civil and not stoop to the level of those who gleefully desire Israel’s destruction.
I completely agree with you both. But for the ADL to focus on the few meanies in our midst, who were quickly censured and scolded, while the other side was having a swastika fest, is sort of like a policeman arresting a jay-walker while a car is running over old ladies on the cross-walk.
mishgolden said
I won’t comment on the particular incident, because I know nothing of it, but this sentiment irks me:
“if the jewish people are to survive, we must respect … once we lose the social justice component of our cultural character, we become no better than the rest… .”
Now, although shiduri wrote this, she may not have meant exactly the sentiment that is my target here; I hope that we all understand that this is not a personal attack , but, rather, my thoughts on a sentiment that I find disturbingly common (whether or not it was the intended meaning here).
I hardly know which part of that to start with; I’ll just go in order of what’s written. First — “if the jewish people are to survive, we must respect …” — why must the Jews, in particular, respect someone in order to survive?! (Not just to be nice, or to be in turn worthy of respect, but “to survive.”) I know I don’t like it, even though I’m not sure eactly what it means — must we (weak and unpopular minority people) be nice to others or they’ll crush us (the literal meaning), or must we be nice because our sense of ourselves as a people will evaporate otherwise? Although I could easily have missed the intended meaning, neither of these plausible meanings is appealing, if nothing else for what this says about our tribe.
Second, “once we lose the social justice component of our cultural character, we become no better than the rest…” is a dangerous (and wrong) idea. Now, I’m not among those who would quarrel with this from the perspective that we are not better than other cultures; I think that there is a very compelling case to be made for the proposition that we are. I quarrel with the implicit idea that, because Judaism encourages us to _start_ from a higher moral plane, we should have a hand tied behind our back when defending ourselves. I’m all for being civil, of course, but feeling morally superior should not come at the expense of fending off threats. When our enemies (and, unfortunately, some friends) use this idea, it sets up an (essentially anti-semitic) double standard; we all saw that with regard to collateral damage in Lebanon. All the more reason why Jews should not think so; we’re not the turn-the-other-cheek people, remember?
shiduri said
MISHGOLDEN:allow me to clarify — in no way, shape or form did i say (or imply) that we should not defend ourselves. and by “no better than the rest” i mean those who wish to strip US of OUR dignity. IF we take a big picture approach to the survival of the human race (not JUST the jewish people) then we MUST understand that it is everyone’s responsiblity to recognize the preciousness of life. Social justice is a huge part of Jewish cultural identity, Mishgolden, and even though we MUST defend ourselves FIRST (if we are to survive animmediate crisis) we should strive toward working to help others as well if we are to surive in the longterm/global sense.
based on other comments you’ve left, i have a feeling that some of my views rub you the wrong way and i respect your right to disagree with me.
mishgolden said
I have no quarrel with you, Shiduri; none at all. If my views diverge from yours at times, well, what do they say about Jews and debates…? 🙂