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Planning the Holocaust in the Middle East: Nazi Designs to Bomb Jewish Cities in Palestine

(Jewish Political Studies Review) Samuel Miner - In 1941, Nazi mobile killing units (Einsatzgruppen) trailed the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front, shooting thousands of Jewish men, women and children per week. Had Rommel succeeded in capturing Egypt, an Einsatzgruppe created in order to murder the Jews of Palestine would have been activated. In July 1942, the unit, consisting of 24 men, flew to Greece. Had Rommel won the first Battle of El Alamein, the unit would have been sent to Egypt and neighboring Palestine to conduct its genocidal project. Archival documents show that months after the defeat of Axis forces in North Africa, the Luftwaffe actually considered a proposal to bomb Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration in November 1943. This plan, proposed by Arab nationalist leader and Nazi collaborator Amin Al-Husseini and supported by Heinrich Himmler's Reich Main Security Office, was turned down by Hermann Goring. The fact that the Nazis considered bombing Jewish cities in Palestine long after it would have any military significance is a testament to their unmitigated hatred of Jews and Zionists. The writer is a doctoral student in the Department of History, University of Maryland, College Park.
2016-12-09 00:00:00
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