Reply #42: Nazi Thought, WWII and The Middle East [View All]

[Colorado Blue]

This link details some of the effects of WWII and the Vichy French and Nazi German occupation of North Africa, on the Jewish communities of the region.

http://www.u.arizona.edu/~shaked/Holocaust/lectures/lec10b.html

For example, “The Jews of Tunisia suffered from the abuses of the Vichy government and the French colonials. ‘In the first weeks of the war, and also after the fall of France in 1940, anti-Jewish incitement increased greatly, with the participation of the Muslim population. ... Jewish houses & stores were attacked. ...

Like the Jews of Algeria & Morocco, Tunisian jewry was seized with a genuine wave of pro-French patriotism when France entered the war. ... the chief rabbi called on the Jews to buy French government bonds. ... Tunisian Jews suffered a bitter disappointment when, like the other Jews of North Africa under the Vichy regime, they were subjected to a long series of racist laws. ... the governor-general, Vice Adm. Jean-Pierre Esteva, ... a devout Christian, was not inclined to put the anti-jewish decrees into practice, and until March 1942 he held up the implementation of the major decrees relating to the Statut des Juifs (Jewish Law). ...”

From this reading it becomes apparent that a concerted effort was made by Vichy France and Nazi Germany to translate their antisemitism to the North African world. Jews suffered internment in camps, stigmatization, deportment to Germany, and other outrages, like those perpetrated upon European Jews.

It is apparent as well, that the local Muslim population participated at least to some degree in the victimization of the Jewish community.

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Even more disturbing, perhaps, is the link between certain influential Arab leaders and Nazi ideology. Beyond sharing a point of view, some of these men participated directly in the Nazi effort.

The following link traces connections between the ideology of Nazi Germany and the Muslim Brotherhood. A key element in this fusion was the publication of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. A link about the Protocols is attached:

http://www.adl.org/special_reports/protocols/protocols_intro.asp

Here is the main link:

http://www.azanderson.org/anderson_report_geo_political_Global_Nazism_Muslim_Brotherhood_filesjuly_11.htm

German interests in the Middle East date back to the 1830’s or so, according to the article, when Captain Helmuth von Moltke returned from the court of the Ottoman Sultan. The Kaiser Wilhelm II became actively interested in the 1890’s to gain influence in the region. The outbreak of WWI brought about an accelerated effort to stir up trouble against the British in the region:

“Our consuls and agents must inflame the entire Muslim world against this hateful, lying, and unscrupulous nation ”.<4>

The author concludes that, although the war effort failed, the groundwork had been laid for further interaction between Germany and the Arab world, especially when the “Protocols” – a myth that is still around, supposedly detailed Jewish plans for world domination, was published:

“Within the Middle East, the Protocols found fertile ground and an outspoken advocate in the nephew of Musa Kasim Pasha al-Husseini. As one of the most outspoken anti-semitic leaders in the Middle East, and a key leader against the British authorities and local Jewish communities, he made great use of the Protocols. Haj Amin al-Husseini was convicted in absentia after fleeing to Syria for his involvement in the 1920 attack on Jews at the Western Wall. However, despite his involvement and conviction in this deadly attack, he was pardoned by the local British High Commissioner Herbert Samuel and made the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in 1921.<11>

The Grand Mufti- Haj Amin al-Husseini forms one of the major links between the Protocols, Nazism, and the Brotherhood. Beginning in 1933, he regularly met with local Nazi representatives and openly expressed admiration for the ideas of Hitler.<12> During these meetings he served as a liaison for the Brotherhood to the Nazis.<13>
Between 1936-1939, Adolf Eichmann, who was also thought to be behind the Wannsee Conference,<14> oversaw funding from the SS to al-Husseini and his associates to aid their efforts in encouraging a revolt in the region.<15> However, in the late 1930’s al-Husseini openly called for direct aide from Germany to Arab forces and had to flee to Syria. Before leaving the region for Germany, al-Husseini assisted the April 1941 pro-Nazi revolt in Iraq, and attempts by the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (Syrian Nazi Party) to prop up this revolt after the British moved to suppress it. ]

Mufti in Berlin

Haj Amin al-Husseini, after arriving in Berlin, met directly with Hitler. He reportedly sought to discourage the further deportation of Jews from Europe and instead encouraged Germany to seek alternate approaches. Some have even suggested that he had a direct hand in the creation of the Concentration Camps.<17> While in Berlin, al-Husseini served as a Nazi propaganda and rallying point for Muslims both in Europe and in the Middle East including regular radio broadcasts urging armed revolts and attacks on Allied and Jewish interests. In addition, al-Husseini served symbolically as the commander of the notorious all Muslim Balkan Hanjar Waffen SS division.”

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By the time the State of Israel was declared in 1948, the Arab heart was completely hardened against the Jewish cause - yet it was a stab to the heart of Arab Palestine that ultimately was delivered:

"The British commander of Jordan's Arab Legion, John Bagot Glubb admitted:

Early in January, the first detachments of the Arab Liberation Army began to infiltrate into Palestine from Syria. Some came through Jordan and even through Amman... They were in reality to strike the first blow in the ruin of the Arabs of Palestine."

On May 14, 1948 David Ben-Gurion read Israel's Proclamation of Independence in Tel Aviv. It included these paragraphs:

We appeal ... to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the building-up of the state on the basis of full and equal citizenship and representation in all its ... institutions.

We extend our hand to all neighbouring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and goodwill, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land.

"The Arabs, inside and outside the territory defined for the State of Israel, gave no consideration to these offers of peace or the many other attempts to negotiate a settlement. Immediately following the declaration of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948 and the departure of the British the next day, the five Arab armies invaded Israel. Their intentions were declared by Azzam Pasha, Secretary-General of the Arab League:

This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades."


http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_independence_war_start.php