Special Dispatch|3139| August, 4, 2010
Saudi Arabia/Lantos Archives on Anti-Semitism and Holocaust Denial
In an article in the Saudi daily Al-Watan, liberal columnist Iman Al-Quwaifli criticized the phenomenon of sympathy for Adolf Hitler and for Nazism in the Arab world. She pointed out that sympathy for Hitler takes two forms: popular admiration for him as a strong leader who was "more powerful than the Jews," and sympathy cloaked in intellectual terms, such as the pseudo-scientific argument that truth is a fluid concept and history is written by the victors. She wrote that the latter kind of argument is a travesty of true scientific thinking, and that sympathy for Hitler contravenes Islamic and Arab values.
An example of admiration for Hitler in today's Arab world can be seen in a talk show recently aired on the Egyptian channel Al-Nas, where Egyptian cleric Hussam Fawzi Jabar justified Hitler's actions against the Jews.[1]
Following are excerpts from Al-Quwaifli's article:[2]
"Those Who Wave the Slogan 'History Is Written by the Victors' Do Not Bother to Find Out the Truth about Hitler"
"The Arabs' enthusiasm for Hitler during World War II was understandable. In that period, they were [living] under British or French occupation, or, in the better case, under mandatory rule, and it seemed like a victory by Hitler and the Axis was the only way to get rid of the British and French. Slogans like 'Allah hai, Allah hai, Hajj Muhammad Hitler jai' ['Allah lives, Allah lives, Hajj Muhammad Hitler is coming']... presented Hitler as a Muslim. Though applying the name 'Hajj Muhammad' to Hitler is ludicrous, the Arabs' aspirations [at the time] were understandable, especially assuming that they were ignorant of the Nazi philosophy and its implications. But what is not understandable, and must not be accepted, is Arab sympathy for Hitler that persists to this very day, based on various justifications.
"Contemporary sympathy for Hitler is of two kinds: First, there is popular sympathy, [fueled by the Arabs'] present hardships, [which cause them to be] impressed [by the fact] that there used to be someone more powerful than the Jews. This sympathy is manifest in support for dictators like Hitler, Stalin, and Mao, who are perceived as models of achievement, constructivism and discipline imposed at all costs.
"The other kind of sympathy, which is more significant, involves exonerating Nazism in the guise of a cultured, scientific [debate]. [The proponents of this stance] take a critical approach to knowledge and history, arguing that 'history is written by the victors,' and questioning Hitler's image as an icon [of evil]. This pseudo-scientific approach is weak and thin, and has nothing to do with [real] scientific [thinking]. Those who wave the slogan 'history is written by the victors' do not bother to find out the truth about Hitler by reading histories – neither those written by the victors nor those written by critical thinkers who do not belong to the imperialistic West that won [WWII]."
To support her view, Al-Quwaifli presented three thinkers – Edward Sa'id, Tzvetan Todorov, and Eric Hobsbawm – who do not belong to the Western mainstream, but nevertheless acknowledge the Holocaust and accuse Hitler of genocide. She also responded to the claim Hitler hated Jews but liked and even admired the Arabs and Islam, saying: "There are strange and fantastic tales that associate Hitler with Arabs and even with Islam. [For instance, it is claimed] that he did not smoke or drink alcohol, and that he used to invite Muslim scholars in order to learn from them about the Companions of the Prophet. Some have even called him a modern najashi.[3] This [claim] does not hold water if you examine the basic principles of Nazism. [Moreover, Egyptian professor] 'Abd Al-Wahhab Al-Masri, in his book on secularism and in his encyclopedia of Judaism, regards Nazism as the pinnacle of Western materialism, whose ultimate authority is science and whose only goal is material gain. This cruel materialistic model is not compatible with the European religions, and certainly not with Islam and Arabism."
"The Glorification of Nazism and the Rejection of the 'Victors' History' Leads to the Disregard of Reality and to an Ideology of Hostility towards the West"
"Finally, there are also histories that were not written by the victors, [such as] the memoirs of Hajj Muhammad Amin Al-Husseini – a real hajj, [who was] mufti of Jerusalem. Forced to flee the British, who were the enemies of the Axis, he hid in Berlin during World War II. There are several photos of him in the company of Hitler and Himmler, and supporters of Nazism like to present them [as evidence of the pro-Arab orientation of these Nazi leaders]. However, Husseini himself wrote in his memoirs that Hitler never purported to like Arabs, and that nothing concerned him except for Germany's interests. In fact, Husseini doubted the sincerity of Hitler's promises to the Arabs, and expressed perplexity at the contradiction between these promises and the positions of the Axis countries. For example, Mussolini welcomed Husseini warmly and promised him to support the independence of the Arab countries, even while Italy was conquering Libya!
"What benefit can be gained from sympathy for Hitler? There are Israeli studies dedicated to proving the link between Nazism and Islam, [which evoke] the character of Hajj Amin Al-Husseini and [the fact that there were] Muslims who joined the German army. Any [fact that can be presented as] evidence for this link makes them happy. The problem is that focusing on Hitler as an individual slants one's perception [of the Nazi era], turning the [Nazi] dictatorship and tyranny into a secondary issue that can be tolerated on the grounds that this dictator hated the Jews and liked the Muslims, just as all the Arab dictators [today claim to] hate the Jews and like the Muslims [in order to justify their rule].
"Those who promote [the approach that] sympathizes with Hitler feel a deep connection to [their] Arab and Islamic identity, with all its traditional aspects. Therefore, they reject [the notion of] subjecting Islamic knowledge to criticism... This undermines their argument that 'history is written by the victors,' [because] Islamic history was [also] written by the victors, yet [these people] defensively reject any criticism against the Arab [accounts of] history. The glorification of Nazism and the rejection of the 'victors' history' leads to the disregard of reality and to an ideology of hostility towards the West, its history, and its ethos. Just out of spite, [the proponents of this view] turn the devils [of Western history] into angels, creating artificial conflicts.
"Sympathy for Hitler turns history in our minds into an imaginary farce in which characters wear masks that contradict the historical truth, and in which good figures wear masks of evil... Historical knowledge thus loses its rational character and becomes fluid, without any center or [sense of] solid truth. In this imaginary, fluid, topsy-turvy world, any historical truth can be denied, and any imaginary [fact] can be proven – just as a person in a pipe-dream can create any world he wants, as his fancy takes him, and just as the dervishes do when they whirl around, crying 'Allah hai, Allah hai, Hajj Muhammad Hitler jai.'"
Ex-CIAers to Obama: Israel Might Attack Iran This Month
Av 25, 5770, 05 August 10 02:11by Hillel Fendel
A group of CIA former officials warns U.S. President Obama that Israel might attack Iran “even within a month,” and that Obama bears responsibility for having praised Netanyahu.
“We write to alert you to the likelihood that Israel will attack Iran as early as this month,” the open letter to Obama begins. “This would likely lead to a wider war.”
The letter, issued on Tuesday by the anti-Iraqi-war VIPS (Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity), continues:
“Israel’s leaders would calculate that once the battle is joined, it will be politically untenable for you to give anything less than unstinting support to Israel, no matter how the war started, and that U.S. troops and weaponry would flow freely. Wider war could eventually result in the destruction of the state of Israel.
“This can be stopped, but only if you move quickly to pre-empt an Israeli attack by publicly condemning such a move before it happens.” [emphasis in the original]
This is only the second memo VIPS has issued. In February 2003, it released a document criticizing then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's famous speech before the United Nations, in which he made the case for war against Iraq by presenting the evidence of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction.
Jerusalem Building Projects and the Iran Problem
The letter is distinctly anti-Israel. Its writers - W. Patrick Lang, Larry Johnson, and Ray McGovern, among others – mock Obama for having expressed confidence that Netanyahu would not try to surprise the United States.
“You may wish to ask Vice President Biden to remind you of the kind of surprises he has encountered in Israel,” the letter states – implying that the announcement of progress in a Jerusalem housing project without informing the visiting Biden beforehand is equivalent to a surprise attack on Iraq.%ad%
“Blindsiding has long been an arrow in Israel’s quiver,” the CIA veterans write, going back to 1967 to accuse Israel of “feign[ing] fear of an imminent Arab attack as justification for starting [the Six Day War] war to seize and occupy Arab territories.” Then-Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s closure of the Straits of Tiran, his frequent calls to “throw Israel into the sea,” and his amassing of 1,000 tanks and nearly 100,000 soldiers on the Israeli border are overlooked in the memorandum, as are the signing of a Jordanian-Egyptian defense pact and Iraqi deployment in Jordan of troops and tanks at Jordan’s invitation a week before war broke out. Forgotten, as well, was the Egyptian Army’s Order of the Day two days before the war plugging "Holy War" and the re-conquest of "the plundered soil of Palestine."
The letter notes that Congress has implied support of Israel in case of an Israeli attack, but that “a strong public statement by you [Obama], personally warning Israel not to attack Iran would most probably head off such an Israeli move.”
Regime Change
The memorandum states that Israel is motivated not by fear of Iranian nuclear power, which it actually has reason to believe that it need not fear, but simply by the desire for “regime change” in Iran.
It accuses Netanyahu of having a “contemptuous attitude toward” the United States, and at having learned this from Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon.
“One would be well advised,” the VIPS letter states, “to greet with appropriate skepticism any private assurances Netanyahu may have given you that Israel would not surprise you with an attack on Iran.”
www.IsraelNationalNews.com
Terrorism Under the Guise of a University?
Av 25, 5770, 05 August 10 03:24, by Elad Benari
(Israelnationalnews.com) A university in the United States has recently been the subject of Internet blogs due to the disturbing information it provides on its website.
As reported on Pamela Geller’s blog “Atlas Shrugs” on Sunday, the San Antonio, Texas chapter of the Muslim American Society also runs a university called the Islamic American University, which is one if its main projects. Yet an examination of the university’s website has uncovered the following definition of its goals: “The Islamic American University is an institution for education, training, Da'wa and studies in the fields of Islamic Shari'a, its fundamentals, linguistics, and sciences.”
Shari’a law is the sacred Islamic law which includes some very strict behavioral rules, particularly towards women. Under Shari’a Law, for example, wives cannot obtain a divorce even if they are abused by their husbands. The law also allows a Muslim man to marry a child as young as 1 year old and to consummate the marriage by age 9. A woman is considered to be a slave to her husband under Shari’a law, can be beaten by her husband at his will, and all the while her husband is permitted to have 4 wives and a temporary wife for a limited period at his discretion.
Hamas, who controls the Gaza Strip, has implemented Shari’a law in the Strip, including the enforcement of a dress code for women on the street, in schools and in the courts, expulsion from schools of female students who do not wear a head covering and wide dresses, a requirement that women announcers on television must wear a veil and that Islamic content must be featured in television programs, and police arresting immodestly clad women and enforcing gender separation, to name a few. Rules implemented by Hamas in the past month have included prohibiting women and teenagers from smoking hookahs in public, and removing dressing rooms from women's clothing stores.
Da’wa, another term mentioned on the university’s website, is the Islamic act of proselytizing, or convincing non-Muslims to convert to Islam.
Furthermore, the website goes on to say that “IAU aims at grooming distinguished scholars, activists, leaders, and teachers who are well-rounded in Islam as well as in the different facets of American life. The IAU board of trustees is headed by internationally renowned scholars such as Sheikh Yusuf al-Qardawi who serves as chairman and Dr. Jamal Badawi who serves as vice chairman.”
Geller’s blog explains that Qaradawi is a Muslim who is active in the Muslim Brotherhood, considered to be "the parent organization of Hamas and al-Qaeda." He has frequently justified Palestinian suicide bombings as legitimate responses to alleged “Zionist occupation”.
Qaradawi has expressed support for the anti-U.S. insurgency in Iraq and endorsed the kidnapping and murder of American civilians there. During the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war, he voiced support for Hizbullah. He has also been barred from entering the United States since 1999 due to his support for Palestinian terrorism, and in 2008, the United Kingdom also denied him a visa on grounds that he seeks “to justify any act of terrorist violence...”
Geller added that the Muslim Brotherhood “has infiltrated every agency and institution at the highest levels” in the United States and said that one of its goals as outlined in a document that was captured and entered into evidence in the Holy Land terror trial, is "eliminating and destroying western civilization from within" and forming one global Islamic state.
www.IsraelNationalNews.com
US Cuts Funding for Israeli Defense Systems
Av 25, 5770, 05 August 10 02:21by Chana Ya'ar
(Israelnationalnews.com) The United States has cut funding for Israel’s defense systems, even though a one-time grant appears to have raised the aid allocation.
The 2011 budget approved by Congress for the Arrow 3 program totaled $108.8 million. This included a White House request for $50.8 million, combined with another $58 million tacked on by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.
Last year’s allocation was considerably higher, the Globes business news service points out. The White House had budgeted $60 million, and Congress had added another $97.4 million, bringing the total appropriation for the program to $157.4 million.
A $205 million grant intended to fund a 10-unit battery of the Iron Dome system to protect Israel’s southern flank against short-range Kassam rocket attacks was announced by the White House in May, pushing up the total amount of defense aid received by the Jewish State.
The generous aid package, however, is predicted to be a one-time grant, while the Arrow 3 funding cuts may be permanent.
In addition, more permanent cuts may be on the way: the 2011 allocation for the Magic Wand system (also known as “David’s Sling”) – used to defend Israel against medium-range missile attacks – was $84.7 million. Last year’s budget was $134.7.
The Arrow 3 anti-missile system is intended to intercept and destroy long-range ballistic missiles, like the ones that could be fired at Israel from Iran.
One of the most advanced defense systems in existence, the Arrow 3 is being jointly funded and produced by Israel’s IAI (Israel Aerospace Industries) and the U.S.-based Boeing aerospace and defense contractor.
www.IsraelNationalNews.com
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