Thursday, March 25, 2010

Anti-Semitic Symbiosis

The following article is behind the subscription wall at this month’s New Criterion. The text is an appropriate companion to the subtitled video of the documentary Turban and Swastika, so I have taken the liberty of excerpting some of the key paragraphs here.

National Socialism and the Muslim Brotherhood appeared at about the same time — in the 1920s — and shared a central ideological imperative: the extermination of the world’s Jews. The National Socialist dream ended in a Berlin bunker in 1945, but the Muslim Brotherhood dream never died.

It is alive and well today, and is gaining ground on all fronts in ways that Hassan al-Banna, Sayyid Qutb, and Haj Amin el-Husseini could never have imagined, thanks to a worldwide petroleum-based economy and the self-immolation of Western Civilization.

The excerpts below are taken from “Anti-Semitic symbiosis” by Sol Stern, which reviews the book Nazi Propaganda in the Arab World by Jeffrey Herf:

Hassan al-BannaAfter the military defeat of Nazi Germany the center of radical Jew-hatred shifted from Europe to the Arab Middle East. The foundation for an Islamic version of Nazi eliminationist anti-Semitism had, in fact, already been created in Egypt and Palestine, right under the noses of the British colonial administration. The Muslim Brotherhood emerged from the war as the largest mass movement in the Arab world, with over one million followers and an armed paramilitary cadre of 40,000. The charismatic preacher Hassan Al-Banna launched the Brotherhood in 1928 as a vehicle for a religious awakening, calling on all Muslims to return to the purity of early Islam by rejecting the corrupting influence of Western political ideas and social customs.

By the 1930s, Al-Banna had found much to emulate in the western totalitarian movements in Germany and Italy. Like the Fascists and Nazis, the Brotherhood claimed to speak for the oppressed working class and the unemployed against predatory Jewish capitalism and British imperialism. To the Koranic narrative depicting the Jews as treacherous enemies, Al-Banna appended the modern Nazi doctrine that “international Jewry” was the spearhead of a worldwide conspiracy to enslave the German Volk as well as the Muslim Umma. Al-Banna arranged for the translation and distribution of Hitler’s Mein Kampf and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, while elements of the Brotherhood’s paramilitary wing volunteered for active duty with the nascent Nazi war machine.

Hitler’s most effective Islamic messenger to the Arabs, however, was the Palestinian Haj Amin el-Husseini. In 1921, the British appointed Husseini as Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (charged with overseeing the Islamic holy places). He soon became the preeminent Arab leader opposing the British mandatory administration. Some Arab nationalists were drawn to an alliance with Nazi Germany based on the political calculus that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” But, for Husseini, it was a matter of deep ideological affinity. Even before Hitler came to power the Mufti expressed his admiration for the Nazis and their solution for the “Jewish problem”—at the time, expulsion from Germany—and sent delegations of young Islamists to Hitler’s Nuremberg rallies. Eventually the Mufti took up residence in Berlin, where he played an active role in the wartime extermination of European Jewry.
- - - - - - - - -
Haj Amin el-Husseini, Grand Mufti of JerusalemBy all rights Husseini should have been tried and executed as a war criminal. In June 1946, however, the postwar French government allowed him to escape to Egypt, where he was given asylum by King Farouk. Al-Banna’s Muslim Brotherhood and other nationalist groups welcomed him as a returning hero. Al-Banna called Husseini a hero who “challenged an empire and fought Zionism with the help of Hitler and Germany. Germany and Hitler are gone but Amin Al-Husseini will continue the struggle.”

[…]

We owe it primarily to the German political scientist and journalist Matthias Kuntzel and to the American historian of modern Germany Jeffrey Herf for connecting the historical dots and showing that the concept of “Islamofascism” cannot be dismissed as a glib political epithet. In his path-breaking 2007 book, Jihad and Jew-Hatred: Islamism, Nazism and the Roots of 9/11, Kuntzel argued persuasively that revolutionary anti-Semitism is at the core of twentieth-century Islamism and jihad, that this is no mere coincidence, and that there is a direct line from the Nazi-influenced Muslim Brotherhood and the Grand Mufti to Hamas, al-Qaeda, and the present government of Iran. Herf wrote the forward to Kuntzel’s book, calling attention to the fact that this connection had so far been ignored by most scholars:

Unmistakable echoes of Nazism’s violent, paranoid conspiracy theories about the evil nature and vast destructive power of the Jews have been evident in the ideological tracts and political purposes of radical Islam since it’s crystallization during and after World War II in Egypt. Yet despite the obviousness of these lineages and echoes, many of the fine works of scholarship and government commissions on the subject mention this connection briefly and, in some cases, ignore it completely.

Herf has now written his own study, Nazi Propaganda in the Arab World, that will hopefully make it more difficult for commentators and government officials to ignore the affinities between radical Islam and Nazi eliminationist anti-Semitism. During the war, the Nazi regime distributed millions of copies of printed works and, through short-wave radio, broadcast thousands of hours of ideological propaganda to the Arab world. Herf has gained access to this previously classified record and analyzes the content of the propaganda offensive. He also adds to the existing scholarship on the activities of Husseini and other Arab exiles in Germany during the war years. Herf concludes that although the Nazis expected to win allies among the Arabs based on mutual opposition to the British Empire, they also sought to “extend Nazism’s genocide of the Jews.” The Nazis were aware of the radical Islamist tendencies represented by the Muslim Brotherhood and the Grand Mufti and this collaboration represented the “diffusion of ideology and of a meeting of hearts and minds that began from very different civilizational starting points.”

27 comments:

Jedilson Bonfim said...

Al-Banna arranged for the translation and distribution of Hitler’s Mein Kampf and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, while elements of the Brotherhood’s paramilitary wing volunteered for active duty with the nascent Nazi war machine.


Since taqqiya master Tariq Ramadan is extremely proud of its (not his) dirtbag, inbred bedouin savage grandfather, couldn't such facts be used for a gotcha moment from which Ramadan would have no way out? Oops, I almost forgot... No one in the mainstream media would dare to ask such a question, just as the nazi mufti is also off-limits to those dhimmis (though Swiss counter-jihad hero Oskar Freysinger actually managed to bring that up during a debate on al-Jazeera with never-able-to-make-sense Azzam al-Tamimi.)

In Hoc Signo Vinces† said...

In hoc signo vinces

"make it more difficult for commentators and government officials to ignore the affinities between radical Islam ..."

To "ignore" more like a conspiracy of silence after all this is not undocumented ancient history.

Henrik Ræder said...

Al-Banna arranged for the translation and distribution of Hitler’s Mein Kampf and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

How utterly bizarre that the first 'Western' books widely distributed in the Arab world is crap like this!

Indeed, if anyone has the chance to meet Tariq Ramadan in person and ask questions, the opportunity should be taken right away. One of my friends did so recently, and noted that he systematically dodges the Q&A.

For suggested questions, have a look at a list I prepared here.

Anonymous said...

Reading this article, several things on different levels come to mind:

1) 5 hours since publication and the "usual supects" haven't shown up. Me thinks that this blog's anti-anti semitism is bearing fruit.

2) The only period in European history that wasn't anti-Jewish was (is) the period of European re-education since 1945. The only period in middle-eastern (arab) history that wasn't anti Jewish was ... ohh, shocking, there never was one.
So how can the attempt of this article putting muslims into closer ideological proximity to the ugly German Nazis contribute to new or novel enlightenments? Besides the fact, naturally, that we once again learn, that ANYBODY who criticises or polemizes against Jews IS A GENOCIDAL NAZI!

3) Let's bend some comparable "facts": let us investigate, in one of the next articles here at GoV, at the connections between Kosovo muslims, American Jews, and the US government in the genocidal war against Serbian Christians.

Baron Bodissey said...

TC, what precisely is your point here?

Would you care to spell it out so that those of us who are slow on the uptake can make sense of it?

Is it perhaps that you would prefer that we spend more time examining the plight of European Christians?

Or -- since there are so few practicing Christians left in Europe -- the plight of European non-Jews?

Do you consider it a bad idea to discuss the formal cooperation between the Third Reich and the Mufti in the extermination of the Jews?

Is that "anti-anti-Semitism"? If so, is it a bad thing?

And please give us a definition of "anti-anti-Semitism" so that we know exactly what you are referring to.

Henrik R Clausen said...

So how can the attempt of this article putting muslims into closer ideological proximity to the ugly German Nazis contribute to new or novel enlightenments?

Let me answer that concisely:

It demonstrates that the Muslim Brotherhood, and its Hamas offspring, are directly influenced by the propaganda of National Socialists. In film clips from Gaza, I saw posters in Hamas-run mosques with the classical "Octopussy on the globe" that the Nazis used to illustrate "the evil nature of Jews".

Hamas are using propaganda tools that Goebbles would approve, and we should not be deceived by assuming that Hamas has legitimate justification for their wrath against Israel. They don't.

What Hamas, Hezbollah, Fatah, Muslim Brotherhood etc. etc. fail to comprehend, is that the wealth and freedom of Israel, the only democratic state in the area, is based on Israelis/Jews being fair and hard-working people - and (even more radical for them) that stopping the war and starting running their areas in constructive ways would bring them much more benefit than killing all Jews in sight.

This documentation is a cluebat for our politicians: Stop buying into the Palliwood propaganda! These people have aims as sinister as those-I-do-not-like-to-name.

If we are sincere about helping the Arabs in Palestine to a better life, we need to disown their current leadership. We can't get any reasonable deal, not to mention peace, with people still seeking to exterminate Jewry as such.

Anonymous said...

Baron

Let me say first of all, that I dislike your manipulative way in dividing the eventual commenters in this thread into "us" (you, Baron and, I assume, the rest of the "good" guys) and "you" (that would be me, TC) the "anti-semite".

That is one of the oldest rhetorical tricks in the book and is usually employed by those unsure of their own position.

That being said, let me answer your questions point by point:

"Is it perhaps that you would prefer that we spend more time examining the plight of European Christians?"

Not at all. I was talking about Serbian Christians and their plight deserves indeed to be examined, especially in the context of the coalition they had against them: American Leftists and Jews, European Leftists and military and Kosovo muslims

"Or -- since there are so few practicing Christians left in Europe -- the plight of European non-Jews?"

Do you mean this question in the context of the socialist and Jewish initiated and executed invasion of muslims and negroes to Europe? In that case, YES, I'm all for examining it!

"Do you consider it a bad idea to discuss the formal cooperation between the Third Reich and the Mufti in the extermination of the Jews?"

Bad idea? No. But to me it seems that this totally accurate observation does not serve to only repeat a fact stated thousands of times all over all counterjihad blogs but, as I said, that criticism and negative attitudes towards Jews are INHERENTLY EVIL, BECAUSE IT MAKES YOU A NAZI!
You, Baron, of all people should be keenly aware of how it feels to become a NAZI BY ASSOCIATION!


"Is that "anti-anti-Semitism"? If so, is it a bad thing?

Yes! (see below)

"And please give us a definition of "anti-anti-Semitism" so that we know exactly what you are referring to.

Ok, since you ask: Anti-anti-semitism is the mother of political correctness. It's the mother of all special rights for victimoid minorities and affirmative action. It is the ideology that prepared the ground for the destruction of White Nations, Christianity and the Family. Jews have been intrumentalized by Jews as the first and foremost VICTIMS. None of what happens to the Free Wworld today and which you combat here at GoV would have come about without the staging of this "original sin" of anti-semitism, nazism, racism, etc.

KGS said...

TC: "The only period in middle-eastern (arab) history that wasn't anti Jewish was ... ohh, shocking, there never was one."

The book by Dr.Andrew Bostom "The Legacy of Islamic anti-Semitism" lays such a canard to rest.

But don't take my or Bostom's word for it, read the Koran, Hadiths and the Sira to get your fill.

Anonymous said...

Henrik

You're preaching to the choir. I despise the Palis, Hamas and all other muslim ideological movements.

I do not ask for or propagate the destruction of Jews or Israel.

But you see, that is exactly my point. As soon as I come out saying something negative about certain Jews or Jewish ethnocentrism and racism against the "peoples" or certain Jewish organizations, somebody will feel compelled to associate me with Nazis.

That has to stop. Jews have been enough of a holy cow now, if you'll forgive me for mixing up my religious metaphors here.

No more white guilt!

Jedilson Bonfim said...

TC: "The only period in middle-eastern (arab) history that wasn't anti Jewish was ... ohh, shocking, there never was one."

Please... How about all the anti-Jewish/anti-Semitic verses in Mein Qurampf, mahoundianism's "holiest book"? Jew-hatred, as missogyny, is a cornerstone of that inbred bedouin savagery known in PC talk as islam...

Anonymous said...

KGS

I think you misunderstood me. Read the passage again.

Anonymous said...

Jedilson

That passage says that there never was a period in islam that was NOT anti semitic.

Baron Bodissey said...

TC --

Let me say first of all, that I dislike your manipulative way in dividing the eventual commenters in this thread into "us" (you, Baron and, I assume, the rest of the "good" guys) and "you" (that would be me, TC) the "anti-semite".

TC, I think you must be confusing me with someone else. I never accused you of being an "anti-Semite", much less a "Nazi". You are either reading things into my words which I did not say, or have mistaken someone else's words for mine.

I reserve the term "anti-Semite" for someone who says they hate Jews, or who believe that Jews are the source of all our problems, or who ascribe our political troubles to the nefarious actions of Jews, or who posit an international conspiracy of Jewish bankers, financiers, power brokers, and the like.

Since you have said none of those things, I wouldn't refer to you as an anti-Semite.

As for calling someone a "Nazi" -- the person in question would have to be even more specific and talk about Aryan supremacy, the Fourth Reich, "Hitler was right", etc., before I would call him a Nazi.

Come to think of it, when have I ever called anyone a Nazi? I can't remember ever referring to anyone as a Nazi. In a contemporary context, that is, as opposed to a historical context -- I most certainly have referred to Hermann Goering and Heinrich Himmler as "Nazis". But I don't think they'd object to that label.

So tell me: when did I do it? I'm old, and my memory is not good. Find the post or comment and quote me, please. Then I will retract it and apologize -- unless, of course, the person I referred to really did say "Hitler was right" or something similar. In that case, I think it's fair to say the person was a Nazi. But I don't remember ever encountering such a person, except maybe for a few Arabs.

Henrik R Clausen said...

criticism and negative attitudes towards Jews are INHERENTLY EVIL, BECAUSE IT MAKES YOU A NAZI!

Yes. And..?

You could avoid that, you know...

What is happening, and what has been happening for decades, is that there is a concerted effort to undermine the legitimacy of the state of Israel, with the aim of destroying it when the chance occurs. Destroying Israel would derive Jews of their only protected place on the planet, and would lead to the end of Jewry.

It's subtle and manipulative, with lots of journalist, civil servants and others each contributing in their small ways to empower the enemies of Israel. For the sake of the Jews, as well as respect for international law, we need to stand for Israel.

That has to stop.

No, not at this point in time. We can't afford to let down Israel before violent anti-semitism has been exterminated. Those who do so are aiding and abetting the quite powerful anti-semitic forces, which is a deed I cannot have on my conscience.

The Politically Correct moral equivalence between the barbarous Palestinians and the civilized Israelis constitutes treason against civilization. Israel needs to use powerful means to keep the violent anti-Jewish forces at bay.

We in Europe, as well as our American friends, need to understand that supporting the PA, Hamas and others, as well as tolerating the activities of Hezbollah (what ever happened to the UN decision to disarm them?), is steering us towards a resumption of the Holocaust. We do not want that, and need to stop it.

Anonymous said...

Ahh, Baron, there it is, the 2nd trick in the BoM (book of manipulation): you take one small thing out of context and ride it to death.

Indeed, I do not recall you calling anybody a nazi. I never said you did, either. But I remember you BEING CALLED a nazi by association. Remember?

Your answer is totally beside my point of the instrumentalization of antisemitism by JEWS and Leftists. How about that?

Anonymous said...

Henrik

I don't understand why you are still talking about people who threaten Israel or defend the Palis. What about it? I do neither.

I have lived with that same "sophisticated" philosemitic European attitude you make such a show of for close to five decades.

Enough!

A Jew or The Jews will have to bear my opinions and my speech whatever I chose to say.

If you can't think or act that way, that is up to you. But it should not be "Raison d'Etat", ever! And it's a shame for a free blog!

Baron Bodissey said...

TC --

OK, Sorry to be so dense. I think your position has become slightly clearer now: Although you addressed me, and said, "I dislike your manipulative way in dividing the eventual commenters in this thread into 'us' ... and ... the 'anti-semite'", you didn't really mean me.

And I think understand what bothers you, which is that some Jews (and presumably some non-Jews, too) use the Holocaust and widespread anti-Jewish sentiments to leverage their own political advantage.

Is that approximately correct?

But, once again, I still have to ask: what is your point in coming here and saying these things? Why do you object angrily in ALL CAPS to things we were not even discussing? What's the issue?

Obviously, you can come here and speak freely about what you object to and state your opinions, and nobody will call you an anti-Semite or a Nazi for it.

So what's the problem?

Please tell me exactly what you object to that happens right here, at Gates of Vienna -- not at some other place where people may call you a Nazi because of your politically incorrect opinions.

We don't do that here. So what exactly angers you so much about what we say?

The Observer said...

I’ve just got a quick question. As some of the commenters here have stated, the western MSM have a tendency to take the side of the Palestinian people in this conflict and not necessarily the state of Israel. The Western MSM does not however question Israel’s right to exist.

My question is as follow, is this the result of anti-Semitism / pro Hamas tendencies from the MSM, or is it a consequence of the sometime very brutal military actions taken by the Israeli army and the suffering that it has caused the Palestinian people?

And yes I know that many Palestinians hate Israel and would like to see it destroyed, and yes I believe that Israel has the right to defend itself.

Henrik R Clausen said...

kritisk_borger, I think you have already been misled by the bias in MSM, since you believe that the Israeli army is the cause of suffering in the Palestinian areas.

If you take the effort to follow the singular news item back to the original, you'll usually see that MSM reporters have modified details along the way, details that a honest reporter would leave in place - and details that reveal the Palestinians to be the aggressors, the Israelis to be defenders.

A typical example is the use of 'Clashes' when the reality on the ground is that Palestinians have attacked something.

It's very systematic, once you start to notice.

Henrik R Clausen said...

The Western MSM does not however question Israel’s right to exist.

Not openly, not knowingly.

But the biased reporting that has become habitual is conductive to damaging the legitimacy of Israel as a state. Take the 'illegal' settlements, for one. 'Illegal' by what measure? The land for the settlements is bought and paid for, to willing sellers. The houses to be built are paid up as well.

The real reason that the settlements are 'illegal' must be some kind of racist laws stating that Jews are not permitted to build there. Or what? The documentation is always lacking - but our politicians react as if this matter was proven and resolved beyond any possible doubt.

Henrik R Clausen said...

let us investigate, in one of the next articles here at GoV, at the connections between Kosovo muslims, American Jews, and the US government in the genocidal war against Serbian Christians.

Actually, I believe this subject has been covered pretty well at GoV a couple years ago. I remember reading Evan F. Kohlman and watching several very embarrassing documentaries about German involvment, Ustasha revivalism and the emergence of lethal sentiments from WWII that had been kept under wraps by Tito for ages. Helmut Kohl and other ignorants stepped in and transformed what could have been a set of minor skirmishes into a major civil war.

If you insist of involving some Jewish conspiracy in that problem, you can write a separate article about that. You may find, though, that it will not be published at GoV, but I'm sure you can find blogs interested in a Jewish cause for the problems.

The Observer said...

Henrik R Clausen, yes that may be so, but you still didn’t answer my question which was; do western MSM journalists portray the state of Israel in a negative light because of their anti–Semitic views, or are their views a result of incursions and military raids carried out by the Israeli army in the Palestinian territories, which sometimes do results in civilian casualties and human suffering.

Yes it may be very true that some of the journalists who operate in the area have an agenda and that this comes out in their reports, but I’m pretty sure that the average European journalist who writes about the Middle East every now and again have never been to Israel or the Gaza strip, but rely heavily on accounts from local sources.

Anonymous said...

TC, I'm a Zionist(I belive that Israel should exist and we can be allied in that region) and I don't have much problem with Jews. I agree with you if what you want to do is analyze Jewish overrepresentation in MC/PC, feminism and whatever or them being more or less the backbone of things like bolshevism, Marxism and the Frankfurt school, ACLU and so on. I have no problem with that. What I do find ridiculously stupid is the Jews control the world and they're to blame for all of our problems rhetoric, especially when what hurts us hurt them too and they support it. Or the rhetoric about how Jews are genetically programmed to destroy us. Or claims that the Holocaust didn't happen(I'd like to find the truth about what exactly happen, especially, but it's impossible with the current framework in which it either didn't happen at all and Jews magically disappear and everything was built by the conquering Russians or 2 billion Jews died in it - I also find it stupid that Jews have an exclusivity on it, despite other people having the same fate). All these things are legitimate in my books, as long as it's not some irrational bantering or real anti-Semitism stuff.

Still, I think the Jewish influence is vastly overrated. You can't force your views on someone that isn't willing to accept them and we more or less wanted that. It's not like some fringe minority can become the controllers of a nation without that nations consent, unless they are backed by an external military power that supports their position.

Henrik R Clausen said...

do western MSM journalists portray the state of Israel in a negative light because of their anti–Semitic views, or are their views a result of incursions and military raids carried out by the Israeli army in the Palestinian territories, which sometimes do results in civilian casualties and human suffering.

I didn't, because I cannot carry a burden of proof for this very comprehensive question. It would take extensive investigations to establish this as an irrefutable fact.

What we keep getting are these little stings like you just delivered - that places the blame on the Jews for singular incidents, barely worth refuting one at a time, but still add up to the impression that Jews are Evil and Palestinians poor victims of Jewish brutality.

MSM does that all the time.I encourage you to follow the details, though it will be at the expense of confidence in MSM. HonestReporting.org is a good place to do that.

Paul Weston said...

Baron

Did you know this post is up at Front Page Magazine?

Front Page

Baron Bodissey said...

Paul --

Yes, I saw that a little while ago. Pretty nice.

1389 said...

I linked to this article here, and strongly urge other bloggers to do the same.