PolS 111: Comparative Politics
Professor Gordon L. Bowen, Department of Political Science
Mary Baldwin College
Staunton VA 24401
Trivializing Nazism and the Holocaust
:The case of the contemporary Middle East
Egypt: "The anti-black racism exposed by Hurricane Katrina is not the only disgrace hounding the Bush administration in the U.S. There is another disgrace that the world is talking about, which concerns the 600 prisoners at the Guantanamo camp... This can be called the first massacre of the 21st century; it is being perpetrated by the Bush administration against 200 Muslims, mostly Arabs, who have been hunger-striking for the past three weeks. This premeditated crime is taking place before the eyes of the [entire] world, but not a single conscience has awakened to demand that the slaughter be halted and that these prisoners be rescued from death.
“This concentration camp … takes us back to the time of Nazi persecution of innocent people in the early 1940s. The U.S., which in the 20th century played a major role with the Allies in closing down the Nazi camps and liberating Europe from the Nazi massacres, has, in the early 21st century, reestablished a detention camp in Cuba, which is very much like the Nazi camps… During the past four years, 10% of the Guantanamo prisoners have committed suicide, which is the highest suicide rate among prisoners anywhere in the world!
Mustafa Sarni, in Al-Ahram (Egypt) (September 27, 2005)... from MEMRI Institute
A Palestinian with degrees from Ohio University and Oklahoma State, a man who lived 13 years in the USA: "The Holocaust is exploited to justify the Zionist policies and to justify the enemy state's right to exist. There is evidence, and scientific research, that prove the Holocaust is a lie. I support the legitimate resistance, and primarily martyrdom operations in Iraq, in Palestine, and wherever there is occupation…Those who associate themselves with Nazism these days are the American and other Western governments, not us...
"You can only imagine the killings that the Americans carry out daily to ignite ethnic conflicts in Iraq. I do not doubt for a second that Americans and Zionists are stirring up domestic racial and ethnic tensions in Iraq… The operations against the occupation forces and all their collaborators, in Iraq, Palestine, or elsewhere, are 100% legitimate, and I think we don't carry out enough of them. We need more such operations….
"But I'd like to address the issue of the 9/11 attacks… America brought the 9/11 attacks upon itself. Okay?"
Ibrahim 'Alloush on Al-Jazeera TV (August 23, 2005)... from MEMRI Institute
Saudi Arabia: "For the thousandth time, the [Islamic] nation is losing its memory and sits with its enemy to discuss peace, agreements, and treaties… The Jews themselves do not forget their hatreds. Today, they disseminate everywhere the lie of the Holocaust and claim that Hitler killed six million Jews in gas chambers. Although this is pure falsehood, they have made it part of their history of trials and tribulations, disseminated it with their mighty propaganda machine, and extorted the countries of the world with it. They obtained huge reparations from Germany with it, and still accuse everyone who denies it of antisemitism, and incite the world against him…"
Sheikh 'Adel Bin Ahmad Bana'ma, in a sermon at the Muhammad Al-Fatih mosque in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia (October 22, 2000) … from MEMRI Institute
"… Palestinians under Israeli occupation today are as powerless as Jews were in the 1940s. Israel's army, air force and navy, heavily subsidized by the United States, have been wreaking havoc on the totally defenseless civilian population of the occupied West Bank and Gaza strip..."
(the late) Edward Sa’id, in the London Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat (September 30, 2002) … from MEMRI Institute
Iraq:
"..."practicing terrorism against all countries in the world and turning their peoples into hostages… therefore, we should punish this unlawful big country whose behavior is reminiscent of Hitler and the Nazis"editorial in the Iraqi weekly Al-Iqtisadi [The Economist], which at the time was owned by Saddam Hussein's eldest son (the late) Uday (September 5, 2002)… from MEMRI Institute
Egypt: "In fact, this US stance which does not differentiate between the ferocious aggressor and the weak victim, in addition to the helpless position of the international community which cannot take a firm stand against the Nazi Israeli practices and Israel aggression makes us wonder about the existence of international conscience, the principles of international legitimacy and the rules of international law. Do the current developments in the Middle East region mean that the 11 September 2001 incidents in the USA have blown away all the bases of the international order, including the UN Charter and the principles that prohibit the violation of human rights?"
Sana Fu'ad: "Israel and the fire of blind violence" Arab Republic of Egypt Radio, Cairo, (September 24, 2002)… via Lexis Nexis