Daily Alert Archives

Toppled Palestinian "Landmark" Symbolized Hate

(Commentary) Jonathan S. Tobin - The New York Times reported that new housing in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem involved the destruction of what it claimed was a Palestinian "landmark." The building in question was a large home built in the 1930s for one of the most notorious figures in 20th-century history: Haj Amin al-Husseini, the mufti of Jerusalem, who inspired bloody pogroms against the Jews. After the outbreak of World War II, he joined forces with the Nazis, meeting with Hitler and then spending the war making Arabic propaganda broadcasts for the Axis and successfully recruiting Muslims to serve in a special SS brigade. He was promised that, in the event of a German victory, he would be made the puppet ruler of what is now Israel, where he would assist the Nazis in the massacre of the several hundred thousand Jews who lived there. That a home connected to Husseini or any other Nazi would be considered a landmark whose demolition inspired statements of sadness from Palestinian leaders speaks volumes about the nature of Palestinian politics.
2011-01-11 11:41:23
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