Netanyahu on Mufti & Hitler

Noted Middle East Forum scholar Dr. Wolfgang G. Schwanitz responds to criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Schwanitz, a leading expert on ties between Nazis and Islamists, says al-Hajj Amin al-Husaini was instrumental in the decision to exterminate the Jews of Europe.

Mufti Did Advise Hitler on Holocaust 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has drawn criticism for comments about the role of al-Hajj Amin al-Husaini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, in conceiving and perpetrating the Holocaust. Indeed, leading Nazi aides testified that al-Husaini was one of the instigators of the genocide. In his 1999 autobiography, a senior Nazi official admitted how he advised Hitler and other leading Nazis, and that he acquired full knowledge of the ongoing mass murder.

Middle East Forum scholar, historian, and author Wolfgang G. Schwanitz added, "It is a historical fact that the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem al-Hajj Amin al-Husaini was an accomplice whose collaboration with Adolf Hitler played an important role in the Holocaust. He was the foremost extra-European adviser in the process to destroy the Jews of Europe."

Although Schwanitz hadn't previously heard the dialogue between Hitler and al-Husaini as told by Netanyahu, he says it is absurd to ignore the role played by al-Hajj Amin al-Husaini, a war criminal, in encouraging and urging Hitler and other leading Nazis to exterminate European Jewry.

According to the foremost expert on the ties between Nazis and Islamists, there is much evidence that al-Husaini's primary goal was blocking all of the ways out of Europe. He pushed Hitler to slam the last doors of a burning house shut.

According to the foremost expert on the ties between Nazis and Islamists, there is much evidence that al-Husaini's primary goal was blocking all of the ways out of Europe. He pushed Hitler to slam the last doors of a burning house shut.
In their 2014 book Nazis, Islamists and the Making of the Modern Middle East, published by Yale University Press, Schwanitz and co-author Barry Rubin delve into the deep ties between Hitler and the Grand Mufti:

At their meeting [on November 28, 1941, Hitler and al-Husaini] concluded the pact of Jewish genocide in Europe and the Middle East, and immediately afterward, Hitler gave the order to prepare for the Holocaust. The next day invitations went out to thirteen Nazis for the Wannsee Conference to begin organizing the logistics of this mass murder.

The highly acclaimed book also examined the Grand Mufti's efforts to prevent Europe's Jews from finding refuge in the land that would become Israel:

And since any European Jews let out of Europe might later go to Palestine, al-Husaini made it clear that if Hitler wanted Muslims and Arabs as allies he must close Europe's exits to Jews. At the same time, al-Husaini and Arab rulers also told Britain that if it wanted to keep Arabs and Muslims from being enemies, it must close entrance to Palestine to all Jews. By succeeding on both fronts, al-Husaini contributed to the Holocaust doubly, directly, and from the start.

[Middle East Forum]

 

Netanyahu: The Mufti and the Nazi Final Solution

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said:

Haj Amin al Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem, is still a revered figure in Palestinian society, he appears in textbooks, and it is taught that he is one of the founding fathers of the nation. Eichmann's deputy at the Nuremberg trials said, "The Mufti repeatedly proposed to the authorities, primarily Hitler, Ribbentrop and Himmler, to exterminate the Jews of Europe....The Mufti was one of the instigators of the systematic extermination of European Jewry and was a partner and adviser to Eichmann and Hitler for carrying out this plan.

"The forefathers of the Palestinian nation, without a country and without the so-called "occupation," without land and without settlements, even then aspired to systematic incitement to exterminate the Jews. 
(Prime Minister's Office)


White House warns Netanyahu - Michael Wilner

Comments made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier in the week, which implicated the former grand mufti of Jerusalem in the decision to proceed with the Holocaust, amount to inflammatory rhetoric stoking tensions on the ground between Israel and the Palestinians, the White House said.
[Jerusalem Post]
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Netanyahu and the Historians - Jeffrey Herf

The Prime Minister has erred in his understanding of the timing of Hitler's decision-making but he is right about Husseini's disastrous impact on Palestinian political culture.

I hope that the discussion his comments have generated will draw more attention to the now abundant scholarship on Husseini's role in collaborating with the Nazis in their failed efforts to murder the Jews of North African and the Middle East during World War II.

We need more public discussion about the atrocious legacy he left behind that has been playing itself out, yet again, in the knife attacks on the streets of Israel's cities. That legacy of a political culture that venerates violence and anti-Semitism is a huge barrier to successful diplomacy and resolution of the old conflict. The more decision-makers in Washington cast a harsh glare on the enduring impact of Husseini's legacy, the more likely they will enhance the now dim chances for diplomatic success. If they can't find the words to speak clearly about it, diplomacy will stand little chance of success.
[The Times of Israel]
*

UPDATE:

Crazy like a fox - Caroline Glick

Netanyahu's assertion that the founder of the Palestinian people, Haj Amin al-Husseini, convinced Adolf Hitler to eradicate rather than expel the Jews of Europe was an overstatement of Husseini's role. But Netanyahu's claim that Husseini made it impossible for Hitler to suffice with expelling the Jews from Europe is true.

Husseini has been erased from history. His role in the Holocaust has been deleted. The fact that the goal of the Palestinian national movement from its inception has been to annihilate the Jewish state and that the annihilation of Israel remains its goal still today has similarly been washed out of the history books and the news pages.

Netanyahu recognizes that the media have sided with the Palestinians in their war to destroy Israel through a mix of terror and propaganda. He knows that the only stories they will report on are stories with an anti-Israel angle. It is reasonable then to assume that he decided to use their embrace of every possible angle of attack as a means to get the truth out about the nature of the war.

By exaggerating Husseini's importance in the Holocaust, Netanyahu gave the media a means of attacking him. But by doing so, he forced the [NY] Times to report on the Palestinians' founding father's role in destroying European Jewry and his desire to carry out the Final Solution in the Middle East. They would have ignored the issue if Netanyahu had not exaggerated his actual role.

Due to his "gaffe," every Western media outlet reported on Husseini's actions.

Some even mentioned that in his PhD dissertation, current Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said the Holocaust was both a myth and a joint Zionist-Nazi project. For most Westerners, this is the first they've heard of the fact that the Palestinian's George Washington was a Nazi war criminal.

Like I said, crazy as a fox.
[Jerusalem Post via JWR]