Palestinian Involvement in the Holocaust

For John, BLUF:  As hundreds of thousands of refugees pour into Europe, keeping past history straight is important.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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It being Saturday, here is an item from Israel.

"Netanyahu Retracts Assertion That Palestinian Inspired Holocaust".

The reporter is Ms Jodi Rudoren, the Bureau Chief for The Old Gray Lady.

This dustup is about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stating, on 20 October, that then Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, advised Chancellor Adolf Hitler, in November 1941, to burn all the Jews, so they would not immigrate to then Palestine.  The implication was that it was the Mufti who put the idea of the death camps in the mind of Chancellor Hitler.

The historic fact is that Chancellor Hitler was already on his way to the Holocaust and the Mufti was just another person along the way willing to support the German conclusion that eugenics allowed the extermination of certain peoples.

One of the reasons this comment was roundly criticized is that some felt it would provide a wedge for Holocaust Deniers.  That would create its own problems.

After ten days the Prime Minister took to Facebook and admitted he was wrong in his characterization of the meeting between the Palestinian Leader and Chancellor Hitler.

Here, per The New York Times, is the text of the Facebook posting:

“The decision to move from a policy of deporting Jews to the Final Solution was made by the Nazis and was not dependent on outside influence,” Mr. Netanyahu posted on Facebook, in Hebrew and English. “The Nazis saw in the Mufti a collaborator, but they did not need him to decide on the systematic destruction of European Jewry, which began in June 1941.”

He went on:  “Contrary to the impression that was created, I did not mean to claim that in his conversation with Hitler in November 1941 the Mufti convinced him to adopt the Final Solution.  The Nazis decided on that by themselves.”

Too right.

Regards  —  Cliff