INTRODUCTION
Following the horrific attack on Palestinian civilians in Huwara, an Austrian person accused me and other people who identify as Zionists of “N*zism.” Irrespective of the irony of an Austrian person calling Jews “N*zis,” the first thing I want to make clear is that I condemn, unequivocally, the attack on Huwara. Vigilantism and revenge go against every single Jewish value in my body. This post is neither a justification nor an “explanation” of that despicable, barbaric behavior committed in our name.
That said: the assertion that Zionism sprouted from N*zism is so absurdly ahistorical and libelous that it needs to be called out. Zionism is the movement for Jewish self-determination in our ancestral homeland. It can also be described as Jewish nationalism. Beyond this, you’d be hard pressed to find anything Zionists agree with; Zionism is a wide movement, ranging from religious Zionism to labor Zionism. There are capitalist Zionists, communist Zionists, socialist Zionists, right-wing Zionists, left-wing Zionists, and everything in between. On the other hand, N*zism is — by its own admission — a fascist, antisemitic, racist, totalitarian, far-right German nationalist ideology. Zionism and N*zism are two diametrically opposed movements. Why? Because the N*zis were vehement anti-Zionists.
H!tler himself despised Zionism, unsurprisingly viewing it as a continuation of a broader Jewish conspiracy of world domination. With the rise of N*zism in the 1930s, the Germans associated Zionism with “other alleged vices of the Jews.”
The German philosopher Eugen Dühring claimed that Zionism was a global threat in 1930, stating: “[A hypothetical Jewish state would necessitate] something like a second Roman clearing action...where the matter would be brought to an end in an entirely different and far more comprehensive sense.”
1930s
In 1933, just two months after Hitler came to power, the leader of the Arab Higher Committee (the Arab leadership in Mandatory Palestine), Haj Amin Al-Husseini, called the German consulate in Jerusalem, offering his congratulations.
He stated: “Muslims inside and outside Palestine welcome the new regime in Germany…Muslims hope for a boycott of the Jews in Germany because it would then be adopted with enthusiasm in the whole of the Muslim world.”
In November of 1933, the N*zis themselves revealed that they had established a direct contact with the Arab leadership in Palestine, with the hopes of “adapting the N*zis program” to the Holy Land. To reiterate: the N*zis hoped to extend their antisemitic policies to the Holy Land, with the enthusiastic consent of the Palestinian Arab leadership.
In 1935, the Husseinis established the Palestinian Arab Party, modeled after the N*zi Party in Germany. Inspired by the Hitler Youth, the party created a N*zi-like scout group named “Al-Futuwwa.” After the Nuremberg Race Laws were passed in 1935, various Palestinian Arabs sent letters congratulating Hitler. In 1936, a popular Arab newspaper urged Arabs to go to Germany to fight for the N*zis. That same year, the al-Futuwwa youth corps began N*zi-inspired military training.
During the Great Arab Revolt (1936-1939), which culminated in various anti-Jewish massacres, the British quickly suspected N*zi involvement, noticing that the Arab rioters carried smuggled N*zi weaponry. The Jerusalem police found that the Arabs had received 50,000 pounds from Germany and 20,000 pounds from Italy. The British also suspected the Germans of planning the 1938 pogrom in Tiberias, which resulted in the massacre of 19 Jews, including 11 children.
PLANS TO EXTERMINATE THE JEWS IN PALESTINE
In November of 1941, al-Husseini met with German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and with H!tler himself. H!tler promised al-Husseini that once the German troops reached the Arab world, “Germany’s objective would then be solely the destruction of the Jewish element residing in the Arab sphere…”
In 1957, a top secret document came to light, which revealed that Germany and Italy recognized the right of the Arabs to “solve the Jewish question” in Palestine and other Arab nations.
Right in the midst of World War II, the N*zis continued to arm the Arabs in Palestine. Throughout the Arab world, the N*zis enacted a massive propaganda campaign. N*zi war planes dropped leaflets inciting the Arabs to start a “holy war” against the Jews and the British. This propaganda culminated in massacres, most notably, the Farhud in Iraq in 1941, which took the lives of up to 1000 Jews.
In 1943, al-Husseini declared: “It is the duty of Muhammadans [Muslims] in general and Arabs in particular to...drive all Jews from Arab and Muhammadan countries...[Germany has] very clearly recognized the Jews for what they are and resolved to find a definitive solution for the Jewish danger that will eliminate the scourge that Jews represent in the world.”
During WWII, al-Husseini worked for the Axis powers as a propagandist to target Arab and Muslim public opinion, and he recruited 6,000 Arab soldiers from various countries (including Palestine) to train with the N*zis. In a 1944 radio broadcast, he stated: “Arabs, rise as one man and fight for your sacred rights. K!ll the Jews wherever you find them. This pleases God, history, and religion.” In 1944, al-Husseini recruited a group of Palestinian paratroopers to train under the Germans in the Netherlands.
1948
Former N*zis quite literally fought to defeat (or more accurately, eliminate) Israel in 1948.
After World War II, most of the Palestinian Arab leaders who’d been exiled by the British as a result of the violence in the 1930s were allowed to return to Palestine.
Following the vote on the 1947 Partition Plan, the Arab Higher Committee warned the British not to intervene in their violence against the Jews. The Arab Higher Committee published a leaflet stating: “The Arabs have taken the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem.”
Between 1948-1949, 1000 former Bosnian Muslim SS members joined the Palestinians in their fight against the Jews. Hundreds of members from the 13th and 23rd SS Divisions volunteered as well.
The Palestinian paramilitary organizations were deeply involved with the N*zis as well. Hasan Salama, the founder of the Army of the Holy War, was formerly a major in the N*zi military. Additionally, he enlisted another German officer as his adviser. Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni, a commander in the Army of the Holy War, also received N*zi military training.
The Arab League-sponsored Arab Liberation Army also had a former N*zi propagandist, Fawzi al-Qawuqji, as its commander. Fawzi el Kutub, known for various bombings that destroyed synagogues and killed dozens of Jews, had also trained with the SS.
1948, CONTINUED
In early 1948, 30,000 army veterans from various fascist forces created an army known as Black International. Some of the members included N*zi soldiers, a pro-N*zi renegade Soviet battalion, and pro-N*zi Poles and Yugoslavs, as well as the Muslim members of a brigade that al-Husseini had organized to fight alongside the N*zis. Black International attacked Jewish towns and kibbutzim.
A source close to the group commented: “These Poles, Russians, Germans and Yugoslavs…are the Arabs fighting for national liberation…Actually their cynical joy is unbounded at the double gift which has been handed them — the opportunity to butcher Jews, and get paid for it.”
In December of 1947, former N*zis were already training Arab groups. A January 1948 report found that 30 former N*zi POWs were participating in Arab battles, 15 of them training Arab soldiers in Hebron. On May 22, an Egyptian aircraft was shot down; 3 of its 5 pilots were actually likely N*zi Germans.
In 1948, when the Arabs capitulated the city of Haifa, the Arabs refused to surrender the N*zi Germans fighting for them. In fact, the leader of the Arab revolt in Haifa was actually a German.
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