37 Fall 2023 Section 28 of the Charter states that, “The Zionist invasion is a malicious invasion that does not hesitate to use all vile and despicable means to achieve its goal.” Denial of the Holocaust and Praise for Nazi Germany A central motif of antisemitism in the Arab and Muslim world is the two-faced denial of the Holocaust and simultaneous praising of its perpetrators. The Arab and Muslim world minimizes the scope of the Holocaust. At the same time, there are many expressions of praise and glory for Hitler and the Nazis for exterminating Jews. Regardless of the path taken, both expressions of antisemitism include likening Israel and Zionism to Nazi Germany and accusing Israel of committing war crimes and genocide against the Palestinians. Data from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reveal a very bleak picture of the prevailing perceptions regarding the Holocaust in the Middle East. Most respondents reported that they are not aware of the Holocaust at all. The majority of those who acknowledged that the Holocaust took place said that its horrors and the number of Jewish victims are greatly exaggerated. Such perceptions are not limited to the countries of the Middle East but are also common in Arab and Muslim communities in the West.14 It is worth remembering that Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority who is also known as “Abu Mazen,” wrote his 1982 Ph.D. thesis at the University of Moscow about the Zionist-Nazi collaboration in the elimination of European Jewry. At the 2023 Fatah Revolutionary Council conference, he stated that “in many Jewish books when they say that Hitler killed the Jews because of their Jewishness, then no – He fought them because of their social role and not because of their religion. That is, Hitler fought the Jews because they dealt in loans with interest and money.”15 Left-Wing Antisemitism A new dimension of antisemitism that Arab and Muslim countries have adopted in recent decades comes from leftwing circles in the West. In the West, antisemitism and anti-Israel hatred usually leads to short outbursts among immigrant communities from the Arab and Muslim world. These outbursts usually include demonstrations against Israel as a basic common denominator that unifies diverse communities, and even blends a shared hostility towards Israel and the Jews into an element of identity that replaces any national and religious identity that may have gotten lost through their migration to the West. The demonstrations are also a way for them to protest their social and economic situation in their adopted countries. Eventually, these immigrant groups join the radical left and progressive circles in Europe and in the United States, where hatred of Israel operates under the guise of progressivism, and a battle against the current world order and includes their negative perceptions of Western dominance (especially the United States). Essentially, just as right-wing forms of antisemitism portray Jews and Israel as the purveyors of every hardship to afflict mankind and the absolute evil of our time, so too does the progressive left.16 In this context it is worth noting that Bernard Lewis, a leading scholar of Islam, wrote that the scope of the antisemitic books and articles published, as well as the size and number of editions and appearances, the high status and authority of the writers, publishers and sponsorship data, their place in schools and the college curriculum, their role in the mass media, all indicate that classical antisemitism is an essential part of the intellectual life of the Arab and Islamic world at the present time. This mimics the role antisemitism played in Nazi Germany, where many esteemed members of academia willingly supported the Nazi party and its ideologies.17 14. See Rebecca Shimoni Stoil, “Poll: 93% of Palestinians hold anti-Jewish beliefs,” TIMES OF ISRAEL (May. 13, 2014), available at https://www.timesofisrael.com/poll-93-ofpalestinians-hold-anti-jewish-beliefs/; see also, “2023 Online Holocaust Denial Report Card,” ADL (Oct. 4, 2023), available at https://www.adl.org/resources/report/2023online-holocaust-denial-report-card 15. “EU condemns ‘unacceptable’ Abbas comments on Holocaust,” FRANCE 24 (May 2, 2018), available at https:// www.france24.com/en/20180502-eu-us-netanyahucondemns-unacceptable-abbas-comments-holocaust-jews; see also Dr. Gustavo Perednik, “Abbas’ ‘Jews are to Blame’ Speech: Replete with Lies, Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial,” MIDA (May 6, 2018), available at https://en.mida. org.il/2018/05/06/abbas-jews-blame-speech-replete-liesantisemitism-holocaust-denial/ 16. Jonathan A. Greenblatt, “Antisemitism on the left is subtler than on the right. But it’s getting worse,” WASHINGTON POST (Oct. 12, 2021), available at https://www.washingtonpost. com/outlook/2021/10/27/antisemitism-left-rising/; see also Stephen H. Norwood, “Left-Wing Antisemitism in the United States: Past and Present,” INSTITUTE FOR NATIONAL SECURITY STUDIES (INSS) (Oct. 13, 2021), available at https:// www.inss.org.il/publication/antisemitism-left/ 17. See Bernard Lewis, SEMITES AND ANTISEMITES: AN INQUIRY INTO CONFLICT AND PREJUDICE (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1999).
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgzNzA=