Thread by @Timayenis

Third Reich and Palestine
Thread 🧵:

Western leftists and so-called “Anti-Zionist Jews” often push a narrative that compares Israel to Nazi Germany. In this thread, I will examine the relations between the Third Reich and Palestine and the National Socialist view on Zionism.

In the eleventh chapter of Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler claimed that the Zionist plan to create a Jewish state in Palestine was not with the intention to live there but to create a central organization for their “international world-swindle”.

In his conversations with Dietrich Eckart, Hitler attacked the father of zionism, Theodor Herzl, and rejected the concept of Jews as “God's chosen people” and their claim of historical connection to the land of Palestine.

Adolf Hitler - Palestine 🇵🇸
Video by: @xalyvdokranos_

The head of the NSDAP's Office for Racial Policy stated that the movement was exclusively against Judaism but not against the other Semitic-speaking peoples. Arabs weren't seen as racially inferior and their struggle for freedom against the Jews was supported by the Germans.

German foreign policy document from 1937 shows the rejection of a Jewish state in Palestine, citing the eventual increase in power for world Jewry such a state would provide. It also emphatically states that German interests are to support the Arabs.

The National Socialist booklet “Das Judentum als Weltproblem” (Judaism as a World Problem) condemns Theodore Herzl and Zionism as a fraudulent movement seeking world domination.

Excerpt from the article “Zionism” by Arno Schickedanz, published in “Der Schulungsbrief” (NSDAP's monthly magazine for political education). This article gives a brief idea of the National Socialist view on Political Zionism and its founder, Theodor Herzl.

After being in government for only a year, National Socialists took action against Zionism in Germany by breaking up a major Zionist meeting in the B'nai B'rith house in Berlin and arresting prominent Zionists. Eventually, all Zionist activities were outlawed in the Third Reich.

The Third Reich took direct action against prominent figures of the Zionist movement throughout Europe. One of them was the arrest of Jacobus Kann, the leader of the Dutch Zionist movement, executive of the World Zionist Organization, and Theodore Herzls personal banker.

Another example is the arrest of 3 prominent Zionist leaders from Austria by the Gestapo after the unification with Germany. Jacob Elrich, Oskar Greenbaum and Desider Friedmann (from the Hasidic Sadigura dynasty) were arrested and sent to the Dachau concentration camp.

Some historians claim that the “Havaara agreement” proves that Hitler was pro-Zionist when the majority of German Jews did not even go to Palestine. The Third Reich's main goal before the start of the war was the total emigration of Jews out of Germany, no matter the destination.

The person who played the most significant role in the relations between Germany and Palestine was the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini. He recruited Muslims for Axis forces and advocated for Axis support for Arab nationalist aspirations.

Amin al-Husseini played a significant role in the formation and mobilization of the Croatian SS Handschar division, Muslim SS units in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Albanian SS Skanderbeg division and other Axis military units such as the Azerbaijani and Free Arabian Legion.

Adolf Hitler receives the Palestinian Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, on November 28, 1941.

In his diary, Amin al-Husseini records Hitler's opposition to the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. Hitler promised to find a solution to the Jewish problem and stated that Germans and Arabs share the struggle against the British and Soviets that are controlled by Jewry.

Hitler pledges Arab liberation after reaching the Southern Caucasus and states that this advance will start the “dismemberment of the British world”. Hitler is happy with the successful escape of the Mufti and foresees him as the future leader of the Arab force.

Amin al-Husseini asks Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler to prevent Jewish Emigration to Palestine.

Heinrich Himmler’s Telegram on the Anniversary of the Balfour Declaration to Amin al-Husseini. Himmler points out the natural alliance and the common struggle between (Palestinian) Arabs and Germans and sends his wishes for Al-Husseini’s final victory in his struggle.

Joachim von Ribbentrop emphatically promises to assist in the destruction of the Zionist project of creating a Jewish national home in Palestine in a telegram addressed to Mufti Amin al-Husseini.

Al-Husseini asks the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs to prevent emigration to Palestine by sending the Hungarian Jews to countries where they would be under “active control”. In 1944, his request was fulfilled when 440,000 Hungarian Jews were deported, mostly to Poland.

Fascist Italy took a similar stance and expressed its commitment to support Arab nationalist aspirations against British colonialism and Zionist goals by promising aid, recognition of sovereignty, and support for the abolition of the Jewish homeland in Palestine.

Support was shown by all Axis Powers. The Japanese Empire didn't provide military or financial aid but helped spread the message of Palestinian Arabs by broadcasting Amin al-Husseini's speeches to the Muslims of Asia.

The alliance continued after the war. During the 1970's-80's, German “Neo-Nazi” groups were training with members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (Fatah). The German leader declared that they are both fighting for their people against International Zionism.