Larry Alex Taunton Profile picture
Author & freelance columnist combining scholarship with boots-on-the-ground. Host of “Ideas Have Consequences” https://t.co/hXfeEXW3JG.

Oct 22, 2023, 14 tweets

1/14

HOW #HOLOCAUST DENIAL IS BEING USED IN THE #ISRAEL - #HAMAS #WAR

Early in my minor academic career & before I became a writer, I was awarded a fellowship that sent me to Europe to study the origins of the Holocaust.

My research took me to Dachau, Auschwitz, Buchenwald,…

2/14

…Mittelbau-Dora, Mauthausen, and a few other places of Nazi genocide.

There you find rooms full of prosthetic limbs, gold teeth, piles of human hair, suitcases packed by Jews who thought they were just being relocated, baby shoes, ashtrays made from human pelvises, lamp…

3/14

…shades of human skin, and ash heaps of human remains. Of all the horrors, it was the baby shoes that hit me most powerfully. Then a young father, I could imagine my own children.

Later, I would lead groups of students and adults to these places the German government…

4/14

…is eager to forget.

Along the way, I inevitably encountered the occasional Holocaust denier.

But rarely.

Mostly because Holocaust denial is illegal in 16 European countries, and also because I give no room to such people. One might say that I argue for a living, and…

5/14

…if I’ve learned anything along the way it is this: when a man’s prejudicial commitments outweigh his intellectual honesty, you are wasting your time.

Holocaust deniers are, by definition, antisemites.

That brings me to Hamas, bc Holocaust denial finds its greatest…

6/14

…number of adherents in Islam. And make no mistake about it, Hamas is a hardcore Islamic terrorist group.

Over the years, chipping away at the Holocaust narrative has formed an important part of the Arab - Palestinian strategy against Israel. Deny Israel victim status…

7/14

…and thereby deny her the sympathy and support she (rightly) receives from those European nations that participated in the Holocaust.

In the post-War years, supporting Arab claims over Jewish ones has been unthinkable given what Europe had done to the Jews.

But that is…

8/14

…gradually changing for 3 reasons:

1. The obvious fact that there are few Holocaust survivors left and youth are ignorant and uninterested.

2. The massive influx of Muslims into Europe. Israel must anticipate that within a generation European support will all but…

9/14

…evaporate.

3. Arab and Iranian oil money influencing both education and media.

Holocaust denial has long enjoyed support among Muslims. But in a contradictory way: on the one hand, outright denial; on the other, rejoicing in the reality of it.

You’ll see both on this…

10/14

…platform.

Holocaust deniers rely on a strategy similar to abortionists: obfuscate, minimize, relativize. Look at the tweet below by “Simon”—really?—who does exactly that. He casually dismisses the Holocaust as nonsense.

Since the Hamas terrorist attacks on Oct 7…

11/14

…Hamas and their Arab, Iranian, bots, paid influencers, and de facto allies on social media have ramped up outright antisemitism and the thinly veiled antisemitism of Holocaust denial.

To be clear, opposing Israeli policy in #Gaza doesn’t make you an antisemite….

12/14

But I’ve yet to see one who didn’t harbor a hatred for Jews, who didn’t peddle bad history, who didn’t use faulty logic.

The harsh reality is this: Israel cannot negotiate with Hamas, a terrorist group that does not recognize Israel’s right to exist and has vowed to…

13/14

…wipe Israel from the face of the earth. Any ceasefire will be viewed as weakness to be exploited and time to regroup and attack at a later date.

As for the Palestinians themselves, polls show 50% support Hamas. It is among them that Hamas hides/seeks support.

The…

14/14

…the Jewish people, surrounded by hostile countries who adhere to an evil religion, are fighting for their very existence.

THE END

Tune-in to the “Ideas Have Consequences” show here and on YT Live this Tuesday 8 am CT.

Subscribe to my YT channel.

Thank you.

Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.

A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.

Keep scrolling