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Netanyahu’s theory
The Quote
PM Netanyahu at the 37th Zionist World Congress
Articles and news about
Haaretz
Netanyahu: Hitler Didn’t Want to Exterminate the Jews – Israel News – Haaretz.com
The claim that Husseini was the one to initiate the extermination of European Jewry had been suggested by a number of historians at the fringes of Holocaust research, but was rejected by most accepted scholars. [Oct 21, 2015 – Haaretz]
BBC News
Germany tells Netanyahu: We are responsible for the Holocaust – BBC News
His remarks have been condemned by Israeli historians and politicians.
Speaking alongside Mrs Merkel in Berlin, Mr Netanyahu said “no-one should deny that Hitler was responsible for the Holocaust”.
But on Tuesday speech at the World Zionist Congress, external in Jerusalem, Mr Netanyahu claimed Husseini had provided the idea. [22 October 2015 – BBC]
France24
Netanyahu blasted for claiming Palestinian leader inspired Holocaust
Israeli daily Haaretz reports that Netanyahu made a similar claim in 2012, when he told Israeli lawmakers that the former Grand Mufti was “one of the leading architects” of the Holocaust, in which more than five million Jews were murdered. [21/10/2015 – France24]
The Guardian
Anger at Netanyahu claim Palestinian grand mufti inspired Holocaust | Holocaust | The Guardian – Wed 21 Oct 2015
AP News
Netanyahu causes uproar by linking Palestinians to Holocaust | AP News
Details of the meeting between al-Husseini and Hitler are sketchy. The Nazis released a grainy propaganda video showing the mufti making a Nazi salute before a warm handshake. The official record from the meeting says Hitler pledged “the annihilation of Jewry living in Arab space.”
While the Nazis’ official endorsement of the Final Solution came months after the meeting, historians note that the Nazis’ mass killing of Jews was already well underway.
Several concentration camps were up and running, and Hitler had previously repeatedly declared his lethal intentions for the Jews. If anything, they said it was the Nazis who were trying to use al-Husseini for their own propaganda interests and that Hitler didn’t need any outside inspiration. When Hitler did consider deporting Jews, it was in the context of sending them to countries like Ukraine and Lithuania where they would face persecution or death.
Moshe Zimmermann, a prominent Holocaust and anti-Semitism researcher at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said Netanyahu made a “far-reaching argument” that didn’t hold up.
[October 21, 2015 – Aaron Heller – AP News]
WNYC Studios – The Takeaway
Netanyahu and The Holocaust: Distorting History for Political Gain | The Takeaway | WNYC Studios
Gavriel Rosenfeld, author of “Hi Hitler: How the Nazi Past Is being Normalized in Contemporary Culture” and professor of history at Fairfield University, says we lose historical truth—and perspective on our present—in these misdirected comparisons.
[October 22, 2015 – WNCY Studios]
TIME
Hitler and the Grand Mufti: What They Really Said in 1941 | TIME
He proposed an Arab revolt all across the Middle East to fight the Jews; the English, who still ruled Palestine and controlled Iraq and Egypt; and even the French, who controlled Syria and Lebanon. (The British had secured a mandate for Palestine at the Paris peace conference in 1919, and made halting attempts to create a “Jewish national home” there without prejudicing the rights of the Arab population.)
[October 22, 2015 – David Kaiser -TIME]
NPR
After Netanyahu’s Holocaust Remark, Germany Cites Its Own ‘Break With Civilization’ : The Two-Way : NPR
Benjamin Netanyahu macht Palästinenser für Holocaust verantwortlich – DER SPIEGEL
Reporting on the controversy in Germany, Der Spiegel notes that several months before Hitler met with al-Husseini, the German SS had already killed tens of thousands of Jews in Lithuania and Ukraine. The newspaper also cites two Israeli history professors who disagree with Netanyahu — including one, Meir Litvak, who says Hitler was already planning a genocide in 1939.
[October 21, 2015 – NPR]
Conclusion
This discourse not only distorts historical facts but also risks undermining the gravity of the Holocaust and its implications for contemporary discussions on anti-Semitism and political narratives. As we reflect on these events, it is crucial to uphold historical accuracy and ensure that the lessons of the past are not manipulated for political gain.
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