There is no Israeli orator tougher and more pugnacious than Benjamin Netanyahu, but even his allies expressed bewilderment — and shock — Wednesday after the prime minister asserted that a Palestinian religious leader gave Adolf Hitler the idea to annihilate the Jews.
In a speech here Tuesday evening, Netanyahu sought to explain the surge in violence in Israel and the West Bank by reaching for historical antecedents. He said that Jews living in what was then British Palestine faced many attacks in 1920, 1921 and 1929 — all instigated by the grand mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, who allied himself with the Nazis during World War II.
Then Netanyahu dropped his bombshell. He said: “Hitler didn’t want to exterminate the Jews at the time; he wanted to expel the Jews. And Haj Amin al-Husseini went to Hitler and said, ‘If you expel them, they’ll all come here.’ ‘So what should I do with them?’ he asked. He said, ‘Burn them.’ ”
Netanyahu, the son of a historian, said the mufti played “a central role in fomenting the Final Solution,” as the Nazis termed their plan to exterminate the Jews.
Angela Merkel has disputed Netanyahu’s claim and said that Germany was responsible. Merkel manned up. When will Netanyahu stop beating the drums of war?
He apparently wants strife and turmoil in the middle east. Perhaps if it all went away, some of his followers would no longer need him. He really needs to stop with the war mongering.
Conditions are bad enough in Israel without Netanyahu playing on Israeli fears. People are already afraid. The prime minister ought to be toning down the rhetoric and trying to quell fears, rather than exacerbating an already terrifying situation. He ought to be seeking peace, not war, if the region is to ever become a welcoming place to live, where three major world religions live and worship in peace and prosperity.
Shame on Netanyahu.
@Steve Thomas
Well, I haven’t looked in on this blog in awhile, but I do see that Steve hasn’t tried to refute the fact in my post #28 above that the extermination of Jews by the Nazi’s started in 1939 after the invasion of Poland and thus predates the 1941 meeting with Al-Husseini and invalidates Netanyahu’s claim, which was the subject of this thread.
As far as Jewish settlements being in violation of international law, see the U.N. Human Rights Council report of January, 2013 for details.
@middleman
You need to read further. I did refute you. While persecutions began in ’38, these were primarily forcing jews into ghettos, or labor camps well before the 1942 Wannsee conference the attempted extermination of all jews was formalized then, with the adoption of the “final solution”.
How about the entire towns of Jews that were lined up and executed by special forces right behind the front lines as the armies moved towards various countries they planned to conquer?
Do you seriously think Hitler would listen to a Palestinian? Oye Ve!
But again, what does that really have to do with Netanyahu once again, having a big mouth and saying incredibly inciteful things.
@Moon-howler
“But again, what does that really have to do with Netanyahu once again, having a big mouth and saying incredibly inciteful things.
You are of the opinion that his comments are “inciteful”. Others, myself included, view his comments as “insightful”. He is reminding those who are willing to listen, that throughout history, “civilized societies” have either advocated for, or actively participated in the persecuting Jews. This persecution ranges from mild discrimination, extra-legal and legalized persecution, and ultimately murder, on both an individual and institutionalized scale.
He is not willing to let the same powers who’ve essentially provided Iran the means to carry out its stated policy objective (wiping Israel from the map), to minimize the history and struggle of Jews and the nation of Israel. When you have the current Palestinian religious and political leaders spouting the same type of rhetoric as the WW2-era Grand Mufti of Palestine, why do you take such offense at his remarks?
This isn’t just Palestine. You can’t seem to place this in the context of the patrons of the Palestinians, who I highly doubt have the best interests of the West Bank and Gaza in mind either. Many were critical of his address to Congress as the Iran Nuclear deal entered its final negotiation stages, saying it was “inappropriate”.
Well there were a whole bunch of folks who thought Churchill’s comments regarding Chamberlain’s appeasement strategy “peace in our time” was not only foolish, but would ultimately lead to the deaths of many of his countrymen. But “reasonable” people within the League of Nations, leaders across Europe, and many in the US thought Chamberlain was wise to give in to Hitler’s demands. History proved that Churchill (a student of history himself) understood the threat posed by Hitler and the Nazis. History also proved that he was right about Stalin and the Soviets, even though those in power here in the US thought little of granting Soviet demands at Yalta.
You see Netanyahu as foolish and reckless, and point to Angela Merkel as and authority on state-craft? Her country is going to be overrun by the same radical forces that Netanyahu is warning against. Same radical ideology. Same radical theology. Merkel is a fool.
“Do you seriously think Hitler would listen to a Palestinian? Oye Ve!”
Yes. Hitler would and did. He wanted to be rid of the Jews as much as the Mufti did. He also wanted the Mufti’s help in recruiting Muslims in Yugoslavia and Soviet Union for service in the Waffen SS. He wanted the Mufti’s help in fomenting an insurgency in British-controlled Egypt and Palestine.
“Nobody had a greater influence on the early history of the Middle East conflict than the Mufti, who as president of the Supreme Muslim Council was not only the supreme religious authority but also the central figure in Palestinian nationalism. In the 1930s, there were countless Arab nationalists who viewed Germany as an ally against the British without concerning themselves with the nature of the Hitler regime. Things were different where the Mufti was concerned: he knew what the regime was about and was attracted to it for that very reason.”
http://www.matthiaskuentzel.de/contents/national-socialism-and-anti-semitism-in-the-arab-world
The mufti might have been a cheerleader but he wasn’t the star quarterback. Why discuss what cheerleaders did during the Super Bowl?
I never claimed anything about Angela Merkel other than she was right to provide ownership of the Holocaust by the Nazis. She is absolutely in the position to do so.
If Hitler “listened” to someone, it was over power, not respect.
The point is again, why drudge up history older than I am. Don’t you think that weakens your cause now? I believe Netanyahu needs to get over the rhetoric and talk about what is going to happen to those who kill Israelis. That’s what his talk should be about. Not some mufti.
We obviously disagree. I don’t dislike Palestinians. I don’t dislike Jews. It is all about behavior.
I also don’t have solutions. I am not an arm chair warrior. Obviously no one else does either.
How about: If you lob a rocket into Israel, we are going to lob 2 on your forces, wherever they are? Doesn’t that address the real problem?
@middleman
“see the U.N. Human Rights Council report of January, 2013 for details.”
UN Human Rights Council?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
You mean the UN Human Rights Council that routine ignores human rights violations all across the world while condemning Israel? That council?
And if UN resolutions are so darned important….. we’ll wait until the one establishing Israel as a nation back in 1948 is recognized by the various groups and nations that keep trying to kill Israelis. Once that happens…then the world can pay attention the rest of the idiotic UN resolutions.
You could be laughing at PWC’s human rights commission. You would if you saw who some of the members were. Still, its a place to start.
We could have no U.N. Human Rights Council. Do you think things would be better or worse?
Very poor choice of words, I think, but your attempt at minimizing is most telling. Cheerleaders and quarterbacks? The Yugoslavs attempted to extradite the Mufti for war crimes, for his part in recruiting and indoctrinating Bosnian Muslims in doing their part for the “final solution”.
I shall remember this analogy you’ve offered the next time Wayne Lapierre is taken to task on this blog, getting blamed for the actions of some psychopath.
I am minimizing his influence. Absolutely.
The final solution was already underway. There was no debate at the Wannsee meeting on whether to do it, it was a discussion on implementation. Most participants were aware of the ongoing mass executions. The above is from historical records.
Even many right-wing Israeli’s apparently have heartburn with this re – writing of history.
@middleman
So you say. I say you are incorrect, and the historical record doesn’t support your assertion. You made it. You defend it.
If his influence were the issue, you’d have put him in the same category as Nation of Islam leader Louis Ferakhan, that is, you would have ignored him.
Huh? I think Netanyahu was wrong to drag the past into the present. There is nothing else for me to say. I have not changed my mind about him. His words endanger Israel.