Netanyahu suggests ex-Palestinian leader convinced Nazis on Final Solution
search

The latest Jewish News

Read this week’s digital edition

Click Here

Netanyahu suggests ex-Palestinian leader convinced Nazis on Final Solution

Amos Ben Gershom/GPO/Israel Sun 
Please credit  Amos Ben Gershom/GPO ONLY

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the international media in a special press conference held at the Foreign Ministry on Thursday afternoon, calling Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a lier and blaming him for inciting violence against Israelis.
"Abbas continues to lie, and only way to defeat these lies is through telling the truth," said Netanyahu before a presentation began showing pictures and video documenting recent attacks.
 The special address came on the heels of a televised speech released by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the Palestinian people, in which he addressed a recent stabbing attack in Pisgat Zeev.

ראש הממשלה בנימין נתניהו במסיבת עיתונאים במשרד החוץ. צילום: עמוס בן גרשום לע"מ
Amos Ben Gershom/GPO/Israel Sun Please credit Amos Ben Gershom/GPO ONLY Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the international media in a special press conference held at the Foreign Ministry on Thursday afternoon, calling Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a lier and blaming him for inciting violence against Israelis. "Abbas continues to lie, and only way to defeat these lies is through telling the truth," said Netanyahu before a presentation began showing pictures and video documenting recent attacks. The special address came on the heels of a televised speech released by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the Palestinian people, in which he addressed a recent stabbing attack in Pisgat Zeev. ראש הממשלה בנימין נתניהו במסיבת עיתונאים במשרד החוץ. צילום: עמוס בן גרשום לע"מ

 

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sparked uproar after suggesting a Second World War-era Palestinian leader convinced the Nazis to adopt their Final Solution to exterminate European Jewish people.

Holocaust experts have criticised Mr Netanyahu’s comments as historically inaccurate and serving the interests of Holocaust deniers by lessening the responsibility of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.

Critics also said the statement amounts to incitement against modern-day Palestinians in the midst of a wave of violent unrest and Israeli-Palestinian tensions.

Speaking to a group of Jewish leaders on Tuesday, Mr Netanyahu tried to use a historical anecdote to illustrate his point that Palestinian incitement surrounding Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site goes back decades.

He said the Second World War-era Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Nazi sympathizer Haj Amin al-Husseini, instigated Palestinian attacks on Jewish people over lies that they planned to destroy the Temple Mount, known to Muslims at the Noble Sanctuary.

The hilltop compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, housing the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the gold-topped Dome of the Rock, lies at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and competing claims over it are the source of the current round of violence. It is the third-holiest site in Islam and the holiest site in Judaism, where the two Jewish biblical Temples once stood.

Mr Netanyahu said al-Husseini played a “central role in fomenting the final solution” by trying to convince Hitler to destroy the Jewish people during a 1941 meeting in Berlin.

“Hitler didn’t want to exterminate the Jews at the time, he wanted to expel the Jews,” Mr Netanyahu told the group. “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.'”

Historians quickly noted that the Nazi Final Solution was already well under way at this point, with several concentration camps up and running. Hitler had previously repeatedly declared his lethal intentions.

Moshe Zimmermann, a prominent Holocaust and anti-Semitism researcher at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said Mr Netanyahu made a “far-reaching argument” for political purposes that did not hold water. He said the comments made Mr Netanyahu a Holocaust denier.

“Any attempt to deflect the burden from Hitler to others is a form of Holocaust denial,” he told The Associated Press.

Al-Husseini was an enthusiastic Nazi supporter. But Mr Zimmermann called him a “lightweight” who was pleading with Hitler for assistance in getting rid of the British Mandate and the Jewish immigrants coming to the Holy Land. He said there was no evidence al-Husseini had any real influence on Hitler.

Mr Netanyahu has been criticised for invoking the Holocaust when talking about current affairs, alluding to it especially when discussing Iran and its nuclear programme.

The prime minister’s comments come at a sensitive time, as he is scheduled to travel to Berlin to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Mr Netanyahu is also supposed to meet US Secretary of State John Kerry there in new efforts to bring an end to a month-long wave of attacks that have raised fears that the region is on the cusp of a new round of bloodshed.

Mr Netanyahu has repeatedly accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of inciting the violence.

Israel’s opposition leader Isaac Herzog called it a “dangerous historical distortion” that plays into the hands of Holocaust deniers. He called on Mr Netanyahu to immediately correct his comments.

“It downplays the Holocaust, Nazism and the role of Adolf Hitler in the great tragedy of our people,” he said. “There was only one Hitler.”

Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said “Netanyahu hates Palestinians so much that he is willing to absolve Hitler of the murder of 6 million Jews”.

Even Mr Netanyahu’s defence minister, Moshe Yaalon, distanced himself from the comments in an interview with Israel’s Army Radio.

“I don’t know exactly what the prime minister said. History is actually very, very clear,” Mr Yaalon said. “Hitler initiated it, Haj Amin al-Husseini joined him and unfortunately the jihadist movements promote anti-Semitism to this day, including incitement in the Palestinian Authority that is based on the legacy of the Nazis.”

Support your Jewish community. Support your Jewish News

Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.

For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.

Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.

You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.

100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...

Engaging

Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.

Celebrating

There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.

Pioneering

In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.

Campaigning

Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.

Easy access

In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.

Voice of our community to wider society

The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.

We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.

read more: