Are Palestinians - The New Nazis? and What is The Most Dangerous form of Holocaust Denial?

Every year, with the arrival of Holocaust Remembrance Day, many lament global antisemitism, highlighting in particular Holocaust denial by pseudo-scholars, eccentric academics, and other delusional opinion holders, who deny the very existence of the Holocaust of European Jewry, the gas chambers, and the six million murdered Jews, at most willing to acknowledge that, amidst the war which claimed tens of millions of lives across Europe, a few Jews happened to die too...

This is infuriating and upsetting, but I regret to inform all those who believe it is a sacred duty to fight such Holocaust denial that the struggle is, at best, futile, and at worst, distracts from and even hides from us the real struggle against Holocaust denial, a denial that could cost us a terrible price in blood, as we already experienced a year and a half ago on Shemini Atzeret, when our festival turned into mourning.

It makes little difference whether all European nations recognize the Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany against the Jews eighty years ago. Even if every child in Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Russia, Romania, and yes — even in the U.S. and Canada — were to take entire courses about the catastrophe that befell European Jewry, this would not be what prevents them from attempting another Holocaust against the Jews when political, social, and economic conditions push them back into dark places.

The solution to antisemitism in exile is not to tell the gentiles how terrible their ancestors were and plead with them not to repeat it. The solution to antisemitism in Europe, America, and worldwide is for the Jews there to understand that the exile is over, the sun is setting on the Jewries of London and Paris, New York and Los Angeles, Melbourne and Johannesburg. G-d has remembered His people, and it is time to connect to the grand movement of the return to Zion.

However, there is a far more dangerous Holocaust denial than the work of those eccentric academics: our own denial — not of the Holocaust that happened eighty years ago, but of the one that could happen in our own days, as we ignore the Arab enemy’s lust for murder and destruction, an enemy that for generations has incited endless hatred and makes no secret of its goal to destroy, kill, and annihilate every Jew — young and old, child and woman. What happened on Shemini Atzeret was merely the realization of a part of that desire, taking advantage of an opportunity. Had they believed they could replicate that "success" elsewhere, they would not have hesitated. But alas, it is far more fashionable to put an unhinged lecturer in Australia who doubted the existence of gas chambers on trial than to fight the Nazi allies in our land — those who receive support from the global left simply because they are classified as the "oppressed," while we are accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court at The Hague...

Think I’m exaggerating? I suggest you read the chapter "The Arab-Nazi Alliance" in Dr. Michael Ben-Ari’s excellent book Vision and Dagger (full disclosure — a close personal friend, additional disclosure — I had the privilege of assisting somewhat with the editing), where the tight ideological, political, and even religious connection between the Arab national movement and the Third Reich is described. It is also highly worthwhile to read the chapter "Holocaust Denial — From Western Discourse to Arab Discourse and Back Again." Those who want to delve even deeper and can read English are strongly encouraged to read the book Nazi Palestine – The Plans for the Extermination of the Jews in Palestine by the German researchers Klaus-Michael Mallmann and Martin Cüppers (the book was originally written in German and translated into English; as far as I could determine, it has yet to be translated into Hebrew — a fact that in itself demands explanation...).

At any rate, here are a few important translated excerpts:

I’ve provided only a drop from the sea. But in the politically correct era, it is forbidden to mention these things. The poor Arabs are the "oppressed," while a retired Deputy Chief of Staff and current opposition leader sees worrying signs — not among them, but among the Jews...

Is it only me, or does Yad Vashem seem mainly focused on educating how we Jews must ensure we never become Nazis? While the critical role of the Mufti in the Holocaust, vital for learning how to achieve "Never Again" regarding our own neighbors in the Holy Land, is deliberately hidden?

Is anyone still worried about Holocaust denial from eighty years ago? I am not. What worries me much more is our denial of the Holocaust being planned against us by the Nazi collaborators in Gaza and Shechem, Ramallah and Jenin, and even in Umm al-Fahm, Sakhnin, Acre, Jaffa, and Lod. And those who do not learn from history can only blame themselves. The warning we received a year and a half ago might be the last one before the terrible disaster comes. Let us start taking things seriously.

The author is Rabbi Yehuda Epstein — Chairman of the Kedushat Tzion Association, an association of Haredim calling for the sanctity of Zion.