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The Holocaust in recent years has become an issue in the Israel-Palestine conflict. There are several aspects to this. The two most important are Holocaust denial and Holocaust inversion. It is difficult to understand how any one can seriously deny the NAZI Holocaust of the Jews given the overwealming body of evidence, but some Muslims do, especially the Arabs and the Iranians. The Iranians even held an international conference on the Holocaust to which prominent Holocaust deniers were invited. What appears to be at play here is the Arabs onject to anything that might create sympathy for the Jews. Ironically while many Arabs deny the Holocaust, at the same time they have begun to claim that the Isrealis are carrying out a Holocaust of the Palestinians. This is called Holocaust inversion. There are two other Holocaust threads. One is that the Palestinians should not have to pay for the Holocaust conducted by Germans and other Eropeans. And that the European Jews fleeing European anti-Semitism is an esentially colonial intervention into the Middle East.
The Holocaust was a crime without presidence in modern history. The NAZIs targeted the Jews for death camps. Many were killed by SS Einsatzgruppen in large-scale actions at first in Poland and than on a larger scale in the Soviet Union. Others Jews were concentrated in Ghettos for slave labor and eventual dispatch to the death camps. Tragically it was not just the Germans involved, but in many countries the local population led by Fascist groups were all to willing to participate in the robbery and killing. Jewish children were among the first to be killed by the NAZIs. They had no economic value which could be exploited. They also were the seed for the future of the Jewish people. The NAZIs also saw them as a force for future retribution if they were not killed. The NAZIs are estimated to have murdered over a million Jewish children. One can not forget the images of the starving Jewish children on the Warsaw Ghetto whose parents had been killed. A great body of litterature exists on the Holocaust including the experiences of the children.
It is difficult to understand how any one can seriously deny the NAZI Holocaust of the Jews given the overwealming body of evidence, but some Muslims do, especially the Arabs and the Iranians. The Iranians even held an international conference on the Holocaust to which prominent Holocaust deniers were invited. What appears to be at play here is the Arabs object to anything that might create sympathy for the Jews. Of course Holocaust denial is not just an Aran phenomenon. Holocaust denial also occurs in Europe and America, but here it is more a phenomenon of fringe right-wing groups. In the Niddle East it seems more wiodespread and has been taken up by important political and religious figures. The president of Iran is the most prominant example.
Ironically while many Arabs deny the Holocaust, at the samr=e time they have begun to claim that the Isrealis are carrying out a Holocaust of the Palestinians. This is called Holocaust inversion. The arguments here despite the vasic inconsistancy in logic is clearly falacious. The Holocaust involves genocide and after World War II there were 6 million Jews missing--half the pre-War population. The situation is obviously fifferent in Palestine. In fact the Palestinian population today is much larger than before the First Isreal-Palestistian War. There are no mass graves and no gas chambers. And we do not see photigraphs of emaciated and starved children as was the case of the NAZI Holocaust.
There are two other Holocaust threads. One is that the Palestinians should not have to pay for the Holocaust conducted by Germans and other Eropeans. The Holocaust of course was launched by Hitler and the NAZIs. There were many others, mostly Europeans, who participated to varying degrees. Here the Palestinians are not without guilt. The Grand Mufti of Jeuruselum helped to spark abti-Jewizh rioting during the Nritish mandate era. The only reason that the number of Jews killed was limited is that the British intervened and with government support the Jews were able to protect themselves. During the War the Grand Mufti helped spark a pro-NAZI coup in Iraq and and attempted to do the same in Iran. He spent the War making NAZI propaganda broadcasts from Berlin. He also helped raise Muslim SS-units in occupied Yugoslavia. The Young Officers movement in Egypt has strong NAZI sympathies and gave refuge to the Grand Mufti after the War. The Bath movement in Iraq and Syria also had strong NAZI sympathies. This can still be seen today in the crude anti-Semetic propaganda prominant in nespapers and media throughout the Arab world.
And that the European Jews fleeing European anti-Semitism is an esentially colonial intervention into the Middle East. This is based on the assumption that Isrealis are all of European ancestry. This is simply not correct. Of course, many Isrealis are of European ancestry, but over half of Isrealis are Eastern Jews--the Mizrahim. These are Jews from other Middle Eastern countries who have sought refguge in Israel.
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