Muslim Anti-Semitism: Holocaust Denial Among Muslims, Palestinians (Book Notes: Losing Battle with Islam)

Holocaust Denial is usually conceived of as a Western phenomenon, something indulged in by antisemitic bigots in America, Europe, and other Western nations. We should not miss the fact that it has become very popular in the Islamic world as well. Holocaust Denial fuels Muslim Antisemitism and may pose a serious problem for the possibility of any peace in the future.

In The Losing Battle with Islam, David Selbourne writes:

[I]t is not only the most radical of lslamists who deny or minimise accounts of past killings of the Jews. Mahmoud Abbas, Yasser Arafat's successor as leader of the Palestinian Authority and approved by many for his moderation, argued in 1983 in his book The Other Side that the Holocaust had claimed 'only a few hundred thousand lives', and that the figure of six million had been 'inflated' 'in the interest of the Zionist movement'. 'All the data regarding the killing of the Jews' were 'exaggerated', he asserted, 'as an expedient to smooth the way for the occupation of Palestine and the justification of Zionist crimes'.

The official Palestinian al-Hayat al-Jadida went further on 13 April 2001, Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day, describing the Holocaust as a 'fable'. Figures of the Jewish dead were a 'lie', their dissemination a product of 'international marketing' by Jews. In France in February 2004, teachers similarly reported that Muslim pupils had for some time been interrupting history classes in order to object to accounts of Nazi policy and actions in the Second World War.

It appears that Holocaust Denial is about as mainstream as it can possibly be among Palestinians and perhaps Muslims in the Middle East generally. It seems like something that people there have come to accept as obvious and beyond question. Given how the Islamic governments in the Middle East have been such staunch enemies of Israel, it's not surprising that they would encourage Holocaust Denial and prevent the truth from coming in.

Given how Muslims themselves in the Middle East have not had warm feelings towards Israel, it's not surprising that they would be suspicious of the Holocaust — especially since it's often cited as a reason for the founding of Israel. If the truth of the Holocaust can be denied, then the moral grounding for Israel might be denied as well. There are thus very strong political, social, and religious forces which make Holocaust Denial almost necessary.

What's curious is that the more antisemitic a person is, the less Holocaust Denial ends up making sense. A really antisemitic person should arguably welcome the Holocaust. Rather than deny it, they should think favorable about the idea that someone tried to eliminate the Jews. So shouldn't they perceive the Holocaust as a model rather than a myth?

Some antisemitic Muslims do exactly that:

In the Egyptian government-sponsored al-Akhbar, however, the fact of the Holocaust was not denied but lauded in April 2001. 'Thanks be to Hitler of blessed memory', wrote one of its columnists. 'On behalf of the Palestinians he took revenge in advance' ... 'on the most vile criminals on the face of the face of the earth. Still, we do have a complaint. His revenge on them was not enough'.

Antisemites in the Islamic world have a difficult dilemma: do they deny the Holocaust in order to make the Jews appear to be liars and to undermine the moral case for the founding of Israel, or do they praise the Holocaust because they think the Jews deserved what happened and would like to see it happen again?

There's a long-term problem here which won't be easy to deal with: so long as Muslims generally deny the Holocuast, it's unlikely that they will be able to achieve any kind of lasting, stable, and peaceful relationship with Israel. The Israeli government isn't likely to make nice with a Muslim government which teaches Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial in the schools; Muslim government which already do this, however, won't find it easy to change simply for the sake of establishing better relations with Israel. Muslim children who grow up learning to hate Israel and that the Holocaust didn't happen aren't likely to enter public life ready and willing to treat Israel like any other nation.

In effect, then, the Muslim nations which have invested so much in Holocaust Denial have created a foundation which will make peace with Israel increasing difficult over the course of time. Is this their intention?

 

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