Nazis Islamic Antisemitism And The Middle East

Nazis, Islamic Antisemitism and the Middle East demonstrates the impact on the Arab world of Nazi ideology and propaganda in the 1930s and beyond. In 1937, with the brochure “Islam and Judaism,” a new form of Jew-hatred came into the world: Islamic antisemitism. The Nazis did everything they could to anchor this new message of hate through their Arabic-language radio propaganda. The book sheds light on this hitherto unknown chapter of Germany’s past. It presents new archive findings that show how the image of Jews in Islam changed between 1937 and 1948 under the influence of this propaganda and other Nazi activities. This fresh look at Middle East history allows for a more precise assessment of the present: What exactly is “Islamic antisemitism”? How is it currently manifesting itself in Germany and France? What makes it particularly dangerous? Only when we understand how strongly modern Middle East history is shaped by the aftermath of National Socialism will we be able to correctly interpret the hatred of Jews in this region and its echo among Muslims in Europe and develop adequate countermeasures. This volume will be of interest to those researching antisemitism, Nazi foreign policy and the political history of the Middle East. This book is nominated for the 2023 book prize for the best book on contemporary antisemitism, awarded annually by the London Center for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism.

A groundbreaking account of the Nazi-Islamist alliance that changed the course of World War II and influences the Arab world to this day

Given their geographical separation from Europe, ethno-religious and cultural diversity, and subordinate status within the Nazi racial hierarchy, Middle Eastern societies were both hospitable as well as hostile to National Socialist ideology during the 1930s and 1940s. By focusing on Arab and Turkish reactions to German anti-Semitism and the persecution and mass-murder of European Jews during this period, this expansive collection surveys the institutional and popular reception of Nazism in the Middle East and North Africa. It provides nuanced and scholarly yet accessible case studies of the ways in which nationalism, Islam, anti-Semitism, and colonialism intertwined, all while sensitive to the region’s political, cultural, and religious complexities.

A groundbreaking account of the Nazi-Islamist alliance that changed the course of World War II and influences the Arab world to this day. During the 1930s and 1940s, a unique and lasting political alliance was forged among Third Reich leaders, Arab nationalists, and Muslim religious authorities. From this relationship sprang a series of dramatic events that, despite their profound impact on the course of World War II, remained secret until now. In this groundbreaking book, esteemed Middle East scholars Barry Rubin and Wolfgang G. Schwanitz uncover for the first time the complete story of this dangerous alliance and explore its continuing impact on Arab politics in the twenty-first century. Rubin and Schwanitz reveal, for example, the full scope of Palestinian leader Amin al-Husaini’s support of Hitler’s genocidal plans against European and Middle Eastern Jews. In addition, they expose the extent of Germany’s long-term promotion of Islamism and jihad. Drawing on unprecedented research in European, American, and Middle East archives, many recently opened and never before written about, the authors offer new insight on the intertwined development of Nazism and Islamism and its impact on the modern Middle East. “[Nazis, Islamists] reinsert[s] racial ideology into the study of the desert conflict and thereby offer[s] new insights into the Nazis’ relationships with their North African and Middle Eastern partners.” —Mia Lee, Contemporary European History “Thoroughly researched and closely argued.” —David Pryce-Jones, National Review “The odd-couple marriage between Nazis and Arab nationalists has come under increasingly revealing scrutiny over the last decade. Here, fresh research from previously unexamined archives explicitly ties that frightening nexus to today’s Middle East.”—Gene Santoro, World War II magazine “This book tells a remarkable and–to me at least–little known but very important story.” —Marshall Poe, New Books in History

Jeffrey Herf, a leading scholar in the field, offers the most extensive examination to date of Nazi propaganda activities targeting Arabs and Muslims in the Middle East during World War II and the Holocaust. He draws extensively on previously unused and little-known archival resources, including the shocking transcriptions of the “Axis Broadcasts in Arabic” radio programs, which convey a strongly anti-Semitic message. Herf explores the intellectual, political, and cultural context in which German and European radical anti-Semitism was found to resonate with similar views rooted in a selective appropriation of the traditions of Islam. Pro-Nazi Arab exiles in wartime Berlin, including Haj el-Husseini and Rashid el-Kilani, collaborated with the Nazis in constructing their Middle East propaganda campaign. By integrating the political and military history of the war in the Middle East with the intellectual and cultural dimensions of the propagandistic diffusion of Nazi ideology, Herf offers the most thorough examination to date of this important chapter in the history of World War II. Importantly, he also shows how the anti-Semitism promoted by the Nazi propaganda effort contributed to the anti-Semitism exhibited by adherents of radical forms of Islam in the Middle East today.

Will animosity towards Jews and the State of Israel never end? This book ventures to rectify the misrepresentations, propaganda, obsessions, and falsifications widely disseminated in the media and public discourse, explaining the motivations behind them. The issues Michael Curtis scrutinizes are complicated and controversial, sometimes even baffling, but he reviews them in as objective and rigorous a manner as possible. Curtis divides his arguments into five key areas: political correctness and the obsessive attack on Israel; the surprising and disturbing rise of antisemitism; the Arab world and the Islamist threat; the Palestinian narrative; and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. The first section focuses on the censorious attitude toward Israel taken by many in the international community. A second section consists of essays on the increase of contemporary antisemitism in Arab and Muslim countries as well as European democracies. In the third section, the author addresses changes in the Arab world, the threat of Iranian ambitions, the new alliance of Sunni Islamist states, and the growing strength and danger of Islamic fundamentalism and extremist behavior. His fourth section, on the Palestinian Narrative, details the acceptance by many critics of Israel and the international media of the Palestinian narrative of victimhood. Finally, the section on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict details the continuing struggle within the Middle East between Israelis and Palestinians. This book is a must read for historians, political scientists, Jewish studies scholars, and all those interested in one of the most volatile and controversial regions in the world today.

A chilling, fascinating, and nearly forgotten historical figure is resurrected in this riveting work that links the fascism of the last century with the terrorism of our own. Written with vigor and extraordinary access to primary sources in several languages, Icon of Evil is the definitive account of the man who, during World War II, was called "the fuhrer of the Arab world" and whose ugly legacy lives on today. With new and disturbing details, David G. Dalin and John F. Rothmann show how al -Husseini ingratiated himself with his hero, Adolf Hitler, becoming, with his blond hair and blue eyes, an "honorary Aryan" while dreaming of being installed as Nazi leader of the Middle East. Al-Husseini would later recruit more than 100,000 Muslims in Europe to fight in divisions of the Waffen- SS, and obstruct negotiations with the Allies that might have allowed four thousand Jewish children to escape to Palestine. Some believe that al-Husseini even inspired Hitler to implement the Final Solution. At war's end, al-Husseini escaped indictment at Nuremberg and was harbored in France. Icon of Evil chronicles al-Husseini's postwar relationships with such influential Islamic figures as the radical theoretician Sayyid Qutb and Saddam Hussein's powerful uncle General Khairallah Talfah and his crucial mentoring of the young Yasser Ararat. Finally, it provides compelling evidence that al-Husseini's actions and writings serve as inspirations today to the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations pledged to destroy Israel and the United States.