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I'm a stateless Palestinian refugee and I found this @ajplus video about the Holocaust disturbingly antisemitic. You can't "yes, but" the freaking Holocaust. This is really shameful.
The video indulges in multiple well known antisemitic tropes, showing pictures of the victims of the Holocaust while the presenter engaged in a repeated and elaborate "yes, but" exercise. Really shameful work.
Among these tropes:
- "It wasn't only the Jews who suffered in the Holocaust"
- Even suggests that the "final solution" didn't only concern Jews (in fact it did)
- "Why only focus on Jewish victims? Everyone suffered"
- "It wasn't only the Jews who suffered in the Holocaust"
- Even suggests that the "final solution" didn't only concern Jews (in fact it did)
- "Why only focus on Jewish victims? Everyone suffered"
Also:
- Claims that the focus on Jewish victims of the Holocaust was due to "financial resources" and "media pressure" of Jewish groups
- "The numbers are debatable"
- Goes off on tangents about "Jewish collaboration with the Nazis"
- Claims that the focus on Jewish victims of the Holocaust was due to "financial resources" and "media pressure" of Jewish groups
- "The numbers are debatable"
- Goes off on tangents about "Jewish collaboration with the Nazis"
Not done yet:
- Calls the persecution of the Jews a "narrative" that has been "repeated a lot"
- "It was bad but it's just another historical tragedy, why make such a big deal about it?"
- Questions why there are so many Holocaust museums around the world
- Calls the persecution of the Jews a "narrative" that has been "repeated a lot"
- "It was bad but it's just another historical tragedy, why make such a big deal about it?"
- Questions why there are so many Holocaust museums around the world
Keep in mind all of this is done in a slick way that for the most port maintains some sorts plausible deniability. I'm sure they'll come back and explain that "we didn't mean it that way" or "but that part was a fact".
And it ends with this. "How can a Palestinian condemn a crime that became the other side to his own tragedy?" 
How can I condemn it? I'll give it a shot. Ya Allah, have mercy upon the Jewish children that were reared for slaughter. Have mercy upon the mothers who carried their babies to the gas chambers. Have mercy upon the fathers who taught their children how to die with dignity.
Ya Allah, have mercy upon the six million who perished for the vanity of one man and the blind hatred of one race. Have mercy ya Allah upon all the victims, and all who suffered in the aftermath and the aftershocks. For we, the Palestinian people, were also among the victims.
I saw this picture this morning. The SS took a picture of Hungarian Jews rounded up near Auschwitz. You can see a little boy who found a flower and was showing it to an older boy. Hours later everyone in the picture was executed. The adults knew that they were about to be killed.
You can't "yes, but" the Holocaust. And you don't do us Palestinians any favor by doing so. And it's not against one's Palestinian identity to feel deeply for the victims, the survivors, and yes, their descendents. In fact it's even more important for me that I do.
It doesn't make me any less Palestinian, it doesn't make me any less proud of my people, it doesn't mean I give even an inch when it comes to our legitimate rights. It only means that I'm a human being and won't let my anger or trauma separate me from my humanity.
Important update: @ajplusarabi has now removed the video. Thank you @ajplusarabi for doing the right thing. We hold you to a higher standard because you've always been better than the rest.
Important update on this: Aljazeera has now suspended two employees over this video. They say they totally disown it, and that work flow will be adjusted so such things never make it to production.
