New book on Holocaust denial among Arabs

Last updated on: May 7, 2013 at 6:34 pm by Svend White

New book on Holocaust denial among Arabs 2013-05-07T18:34:57-05:00 Svend White

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A very interesting-sounding book has come out by progressive scholar and activist Gilbert Achcar–whose work I've often read over the years in the excellent tiers-mondiste newspaper Le Monde Diplomatique–on the ugly phenomenon in the Arab world of Holocaust denial.

t r u t h o u t | The League Against Denial"

"The phenomenon of Holocaust denial in the Arab world is wrong, misleading and causes damage to the Palestinian cause." In his new book, Lebanese-French academic Gilbert Achcar grapples for the first time with the Arab attitudes towards the Holocaust.

I unapologetically reject white-washed narratives of Israeli history, but I've always found it repugnant and, as a Muslim, personally shameful when misguided and/or bigoted Muslims stoop to Holocaust Revisionism in order to discredit their opponents in Mideast political debates.

Like Achcar, I do not approve of equating the Nakba with the Holocaust, either, however tragic and unjust the fate of Palestinians has been for the last half century. Israel's founding was not pretty or, frankly, just; some of Israel's most prominent "defenders" (especially in American politics) are indeed hypocritical in the way they frame the discourse of human rights as regards Palestinians; and the Palestinians have every right to demand the same dignity, physical safety, and self-determination that Israelis enjoy, but none of that take away an iota of the numbing savagery and horror of the Nazi Holocaust.

A few years back, I got into a heated argument with a moron for his selling Henry Ford's vile, pseudo-scholarly The International Jew alongside legitimate Islamic religious literature during Eid celebrations in Atlanta. I pointed out to the guy–a white convert with Hizbie leanings, judging by the ideological theme of many of the things being sold–that there's nothing Islamic or pro-Palestinian about selling this filth, and that there was no shortage of serious, principled scholarship out there critiquing Israel's policies without sinking to these depths. I asked him if he'd sell KKK political pornography "literature", as well, since they too profess to defend Palestinians from Israel. He didn't like that, not that the dunce was in any way chastened by the exchange.

Thankfully, it's been a long time since I've encountered such rank stupidity and bigotry in the wild in the Muslim community. But it's a reminder that these mindsets–like all sorts of discredited ideologies or politically motivated myths within many communities (e.g., Birthers)–still circulate in damp corners of the collective Muslim Id and require systematic refutation in Islamic media if they are to be truly exorcised once and for all.

Speaking of which, surely the most conspicuous and reliable evidence of intellectual–if not moral–bankruptcy among hard-line Islamic activists is an unwillingness to talk frankly and sympathetically about the Holocaust. The facts that Muslims weren't responsible for it or that its lessons are invoked selectively by some in Western political life should have no bearing whatsoever on how Muslims approach this singular tragedy, to which simply no informed, moral person can be indifferent.

The interview with Achcar includes some very stimulating observations about that obsession among Islamophobes and Arab-baiters, the Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin Al-Husseini. Here's one that really boils the endless exposés down to their purest essence:

The heightened tension between Israel and the Arabs and the Palestinians in the last years has radicalized positions on both sides. But even Hamas never established brigades named for mufti al-Husseini. Nor are there any missiles or streets named after him. Nobody is interested in him. The hero of Hamas is Izz el-Din al-Qassam. You have to understand that in order to cut through the propaganda.

Emphasis added. My point exactly. He's a footnote, people. An awkward one, sure, but every nation or people has those.

Achcar locates the genesis of Arab Holocaust denial in an event that occurred merely a generation ago.

"The denial in the Arab world today comes mainly from ignorance. However, you have to distinguish it from Holocaust denial in the West, which is a pathological phenomenon. In the West these people are mentally ill, complete anti-Semites. In the Arab world, the denial that exists among certain strains of public opinion, who are still in the minority, comes from rage and frustration over the escalation of Israeli violence, along with the increased use of the Holocaust. It began with the invasion of Lebanon in 1982.

"Menachem Begin abused the memory of the Holocaust, including in Israel's domestic political discourse. This led people and the Arab world to react in the stupidest way and say: if Israel is trying to justify its actions by reference to the Holocaust, then the Holocaust is an exaggeration or a propaganda invention. The more violence there is, the more you will find this reaction, which is actually a symbolic challenge. It is nothing deeper."

Emphasis added. That's an intriguing contention. It'll be very interesting to see whether it stands up to scrutiny by Daniel Pipes, Martin Kramer, and the like.

I wonder how the book is being received, both in Washington and the Middle East.

Legos

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