Israeli PM Netanyahu is harvesting a storm of indignation by positing in a speech that not the Nazis but the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem is the source of the Final Solution, the genocide of the Jews in World War II. But his goal was to make a broader point.
Letter from the Grand Mufti to Ribbentrop, urging that Jews not be deported to Palestine.
UPDATE: After checking the historical records, turns out PM Netanyahu was absolutely right. But his actual goal was to make a broader point: that Islamic Jew hatred predates the Jewish state and even so called "occupation"
Mr. Netanyahu, who had also called the mufti “one of the leading architects of the Final Solution” in a 2012 speech, on Wednesday called the criticism of his remarks “absurd.” “My intention was not to absolve Hitler of his responsibility,” he said as he left Israel for Germany, where he met with Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Letter from the Grand Mufti to Ribbentrop, urging that Jews not be deported to Palestine.
UPDATE: After checking the historical records, turns out PM Netanyahu was absolutely right. But his actual goal was to make a broader point: that Islamic Jew hatred predates the Jewish state and even so called "occupation"
Mr. Netanyahu, who had also called the mufti “one of the leading architects of the Final Solution” in a 2012 speech, on Wednesday called the criticism of his remarks “absurd.” “My intention was not to absolve Hitler of his responsibility,” he said as he left Israel for Germany, where he met with Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“But rather to show that the forefathers of the Palestinian nation, without a country and without the so-called occupation, without land and without settlements, even then aspired to systematic incitement to exterminate the Jews.”