No leader across the free world wants to be accused of having Nazi sympathies. In the Muslim world, however, it is often worn as a badge of honor. The Russian forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Hitler’s Mein Kampf, and other racist, virulently anti-Jewish writings are annual best-sellers across the Muslim Middle East, top sellers at book fairs. This is also true among the Palestinian-Arabs.
Over the years, a watchdog group monitoring Palestinian media, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), has documented numerous expressions of Nazi sympathies by Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah leaders. Admiration of Hitler is part of Palestinian Holocaust denial and distortion.
Some expressions of sympathy are blatant, while others are more subliminal. Following are some examples.
“Hitler was not morally corrupt. He was daring.”
Senior Fatah official Fatah Central Committee Member Tawfik Tirawi argued that Hitler was not morally corrupt, but rather “daring,” in a TV interview. Tirawi’s approach even offended the Palestinian interviewer, who chose to quickly change the topic:
Tirawi: “Let us talk logically. Hitler was not morally corrupt. He was daring.”
Ma’an program host: “Is that the way to talk? I say: Let’s drink some tea and take a break. It would be a pity to be put in jail because of this interview. We will drink tea and take a break. Let’s leave Hitler.”
PA schools named after Nazi collaborators
Alongside the 31 PA schools PMW has documented that are named after terrorists, including murderers such as Dalal Mughrabi, the PA also named three schools after Nazi collaborators. One school was named after Nazi collaborator and war criminal Amin Al-Husseini and two others are named after Nazi collaborator Hassan Salameh.
Obviously, schools are named after people who the PA Ministry of Education sees as role models for the students to emulate.
Amin Al-Husseini was the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem at the time of the British Mandate. During World War II he moved to Berlin, where he collaborated with the Nazis and was an associate of Hitler. Al-Husseini was responsible for a Muslim SS division that murdered thousands of Serbs and Croats and was on Yugoslavia’s list of wanted Nazi war criminals. When the Nazis offered to free 5,000 Jewish children, Al-Husseini fought against their release. Ultimately, they were sent to the gas chambers.
Hassan Salameh was a leader of Arab gangs in the Lod and Jaffa region in the 1930s and 1940s. He was a loyal follower of Amin Al-Husseini. In 1941, Salameh was recruited to be a Nazi agent. In 1944, he was sent by the Nazis on a mission to British Mandate Palestine with the goals of starting an Arab revolt against the British and poisoning Tel Aviv’s water sources. The plot was discovered and thwarted by the British. In 1947, Salameh was appointed by Al-Husseini as Deputy Commander of the “Holy Jihad” Army that fought Israel in the 1948 War of Independence.
Adopting the PA’s message, at least two schools have posted pictures of Hitler accompanied by the text: “Hitler said: ‘I could have annihilated all of the Jews in the world, but I left a few so that you would know why I annihilated them.’” One of them is still accessible today on Facebook.
Facebook page of the Iktiba High School for Girls, May 22, 2012
Facebook page of the Anabta High School for Girls, January 26, 2012
The PA sympathy with Amin Al-Husseini is not limited to the PA Ministry of Education. A post on the Facebook page of the PA National Security Forces similarly glorified him.
Mufti Amin Al-Husseini, left.
Text on left: “Men around Jerusalem”
Text on right: “Muhammad Amin Al-Husseini: ‘A right that is demanded will not be lost.’ If there is a practical example of this saying, it is Muhammad Amin Al-Husseini. This man lived the Palestinian cause until his last breath.’” (June 3, 2016)
“Balfour wanted to get rid of the Jews, so he sent them to Palestine instead of killing them.”
The Lebanese branch of Abbas’ Fatah Movement argued in an article that the true victims of Hitler were the Palestinians and that former British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour was himself an anti-Semite:
“The difference between Hitler and Balfour was that Balfour had colonies, among them Palestine, and he sent the Jews there in order to get rid of them. Hitler did not have colonies, and therefore he got rid of them through extermination. However, the true victims of both Balfour and Hitler were the Palestinians and the Arabs, and we are still paying the price after 100 years.”
Admiration of Hitler passed on to the next generation
Finally, seeing Hitler as a positive figure is being passed on to Palestinian youth. Zayzafuna, a Palestinian children’s magazine funded by the PA, published a submission by a 10th grade Palestinian girl which presented Hitler not only as a positive figure, but one to be admired because he killed Jews in order to benefit all humanity.
The girl’s submission describes her dream in which she met four heroic historical figures and had a conversation with each of them. Three were renowned Muslims, including a Nobel Prize recipient and a mathematics scholar, and the fourth was Hitler.
The following is from the essay presenting all four as positive role models:
“One hot day, I was very tired after a hard day…and suddenly I saw four white doors in front of me. I opened them in no particular order….
“I turned to the next door; there Hitler awaited me. I said, ‘You’re the one who killed the Jews?’
“He [Hitler] said: ‘Yes. I killed them so you would all know they are a nation that spreads destruction all over the world. And what I ask of you is to be resilient and patient concerning the suffering that Palestine is experiencing at their hands.’
“I said [to Hitler]: ‘Thanks for the advice.’”
Although repugnant, a Palestinian teenager’s admiration for Hitler because he killed Jews, alongside other Muslim role models, is not unexpected. As PMW documents, Palestinian children are brought up with the teaching that killing Israelis and Jews is heroic.
The PA has named streets, schools, sporting events and more after Palestinian terrorists who have killed hundreds of Israeli civilians. In Palestinian cultural, educational and social events, every Palestinian child is exposed to repeated glorification of terrorists who have killed Jews. It is not surprising that a Palestinian child who has been educated to see those who have murdered Jews as heroes and role models will conclude that Hitler, the one who murdered the most Jews in history, is likewise worthy of admiration.