In Palestinian news site Sama News, writer Khudair Abu Tammam discusses the Holocaust on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The first part of the article is mostly accurate, discussing specific atrocities done against Jews during the Holocaust, mentioning Kristallnacht, Josef Mengele’s inhumane experiments and early German attempts to mass murder Jews before building the gas chambers.
Even in that section of the article, Tammam mentions the Roma, mentally disabled and others victimized by the Germans, and asks, “why was it historically called the massacre of the Jews despite the presence of hundreds of thousands of non-Jewish dead?”
Tammam then tries to minimize the German role in the Holocaust, saying, “Contrary to what is commonly thought, the Germans were not the only ones who participated in the organization of the Holocaust. Other countries, including Italy, Croatia, Hungary and Bulgaria, contributed to the extermination camps, and history doesn’t know if Hitler was responsible for the genocide.”
Then he ends off by saying, “Finally, I will quote some of the views that cast doubt on the figures of the Jews killed in the genocide.” He then goes through the views of famous Holocaust deniers like David Irving.
The article ends by saying there are “many opinions” on the matter.
This is another form of Holocaust denial. By casting doubt on perhaps the most well-documented atrocity in human history, the author pretends to be open to all opinions but in fact is amplifying provable lies. He is giving his audience a reason to doubt, not a reason to learn about it.
The Holocaust is, of course, not taught in Palestinian schools, and when UNRWA floated the idea of adding it to the curriculum some years back there was a huge backlash. Because by teaching Palestinian Arabs that Jews are human beings and victims, Palestinians cannot teach their kids to hate Jews as easily.
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