Hamas = Fascist Jew-Hatred – But the Palestinian Arab Nationalism and Nazi Connection Goes Way Back

Israel-haters love to accuse Israelis of perpetuating and promoting the evil that Israel’s enemies exemplify.

On October 7, Hamas systemically raped Israeli men and women with the open support & even exuberance of the majority of Palestinian Arab society – and Israel-haters accuse the IDF of systemic rape and even post made-up surveys, which claim almost a majority of Israelis support rape as a tool of warfare.

Hamas & Palestinian Authority leaders/dictators regularly exhort the killing of Jews and call for removing millions of Jews from the land of Israel – and Israel-haters accuse Israelis of supporting ethnic cleansing.

Hamas & Palestinian Authority leaders/dictators, schools and media regularly refer to Jews as uniquely aberrant, evil, and dishonest – leading to over 90% of Palestinian Arabs living under the PA and Hamas having antisemitic beliefs – and Israel-haters claim it’s the Israelis who are the “racists” in this conflict.

Hamas & Palestinian Authority leaders/dictators abhor elections, don’t allow for any free press, free speech, or freedom of religion in favor of extreme authoritarianism – and Israel-haters accuse the elected Israeli government – in a country with freedom of religion, press, and assembly – of being “fascists.”

These are all examples of what psychologists refer to as “projection” (the act of subconsciously projecting onto others your own acts, thoughts, and feelings).

But nowhere is the projection engaged in by Israel-haters more profound, absurd, and ironic than when they accuse Israelis of being “Nazis” and try and associate the de facto democratic movement for Jewish self-determination (Zionism) with “Nazism.”

Plainly, for any fair-minded person with a modicum of knowledge about current events and history, the meaningful similarities between democratic Israel – a state where all citizens, regardless of their perceived race, ethnicity, or faith, have the same civil rights (and more rights than the citizens of any of Israel’s neighbors in the MENA) – and Nazi Germany, are non-existent. Meanwhile, the meaningful similarities between Gaza under Hamas control, and Germany under Nazi control, are as obvious as the similarities between Kim Jong Un-controlled North Korea and Stalin-controlled Russia.

Before 1933, it was well known in Germany that the Nazis were fascists, who rejected individual freedom, emphasized white supremacy, vilified homosexuality, and more than anything else, centered on Jew-hatred.

Despite (or perhaps because of) this hateful ideology, in the 1933 legislative elections in Germany, the Nazis received 44% of the votes; and within 18 months of Hitler becoming Chancellor, had seized complete control of Germany. Following this takeover, the Nazis moved every state institution and resource in line with and in support of their Jew-hating ideology.

Similarly, by 2006, Hamas’ deeply intolerant Islamist Supremacist ideology with violent Jew-hatred at its core was very well known.

Despite (or perhaps because of) this hateful ideology, in the 2006 legislative elections within the Palestinian Authority, Hamas received 45% of the overall vote and over 62% of the vote in Gaza, making it the largest party in the Palestinian Authority legislature. And in a manner similar to the Nazis’ violent seizure of power (because Israel had completely withdrawn from Gaza in 2005) in June of 2007, Hamas very violently seized absolute power in Gaza – killing and maiming thousands of Palestinian Arabs in the process.

Since then, Hamas has stayed true to its violent, fascist core beliefs. Hamas regularly murders political dissidents. Hamas murders Gazans for being gay. Hamas appropriated every resource and institution in Gaza in pursuit of its goal to “obliterate” Israel, including destroying Gaza’s water pipes to make rockets to attack Israel, while its leaders call for the mass-murder of all of the world’s Jews as they have been “educating” Gazans about the supposed conspiratorial evil of Jews and the necessity to kill Jews.

In 2014, the Hamas spokesman, Osama Hamdan, following a page straight from the Nazi chief propagandist Josef Goebbels, asserted to an audience on Lebanese TV that Jews enjoy killing children because “we [referring apparently to his audience] all remember how the Jews used to slaughter Christians in order to mix their blood in their holy matzos.” Hamdan also added, “This is not a figment of imagination or something taken from a film, it is a fact acknowledged by their own books and historical evidence.”

Of course, this vile antisemitic canard coming from a Hamas spokesperson should surprise no one, as the Hamas Charter itself (Article 7) provides: “The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.” And that same Charter, in Articles 20 and 22, contains many of the same dangerous antisemitic tropes and sinister conspiracy theories grounded in Jew-hatred, which the Nazis promoted in Mein Kampf and later-on in Der Sturmer.

Article 22 is so crazy antisemitic, and fits so perfectly in the pages of Mein Kampf and Der Sturmer, it warrants quoting in full:

“For a long time, the enemies [Jews] have been planning, skillfully and with precision, for the achievement of what they have attained. They took into consideration the causes affecting the current of events. They strived to amass great and substantive material wealth which they devoted to the realization of their dream. With their money, they took control of the world media, news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broadcasting stations, and others. With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts of the world with the purpose of achieving their interests and reaping the fruit therein. They were behind the French Revolution, the Communist revolution and most of the revolutions we heard and hear about, here and there. With their money they formed secret societies, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, the Lions and others in different parts of the world for the purpose of sabotaging societies and achieving Zionist interests. With their money they were able to control imperialistic countries and instigate them to colonize many countries in order to enable them to exploit their resources and spread corruption there.

You may speak as much as you want about regional and world wars. They were behind World War I, when they were able to destroy the Islamic Caliphate, making financial gains and controlling resources. They obtained the Balfour Declaration, formed the League of Nations through which they could rule the world. They were behind World War II, through which they made huge financial gains by trading in armaments, and paved the way for the establishment of their state. It was they who instigated the replacement of the League of Nations with the United Nations and the Security Council to enable them to rule the world through them. There is no war going on anywhere, without having their finger in it.”

Sadly, the obvious similarity between the Nazis’ fascism, authoritarianism, murderous intolerance for gay people, and virulent Jew-hatred grounded in antisemitic conspiracy theories, and that of Israel’s enemies (among the leaders of the Palestinian Arabs) did not begin with Hamas and its Islamist Supremacist leadership.

Well before the Arabs in Palestine began generally identifying as “Palestinian” and  certainly before Israel declared its independence from British rule, the Arabs living in British controlled Palestine were led by an outright, unabashed Nazi “super-fan,” Haj Amin el-Husseini.

Not only was el-Husseini the first de facto leader of the Arabs in British Mandatory Palestine, as the head of the Arab “Higher Committee,” he was an ally of the Nazis and honored guest in Berlin of Adolf Hitler. To this day, el-Husseini is a revered figure within Palestinian Arab society and particularly among the leadership in Hamas, the PLO, the PA, al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Islamic Jihad, etc.

Haj Amin el-Husseini’s Jew-hatred pre-dated his appreciation for and alliance with the Nazis. On May 1, 1921 Arabs incited to violence by Haj Amin al-Husseini’s lies about Jews trying to destroy Al Aqsa (the same lie Hamas used as its excuse for the October 7^th Massacre) attacked Jewish residents in Jerusalem, Jaffa and in five Jewish rural communities. 47 Jews were killed and 146 were wounded in those May 1, 1921 attacks.

In 1929 (almost 40 years before any alleged “occupation”), Arab mobs – incited again by the lies and rhetoric of el-Husseini about Jews supposedly trying to destroy Al-Aqsa) – attacked Jews throughout British controlled Palestine. The most violent attacks were against old, established and largely defenseless Jewish communities in Hebron, Safed, Jerusalem, and Jaffa. During those attacks, 133 Jews were killed and 339 were wounded and the entire city of Hebron was ethnically cleansed of Jews – many of whom were raped and brutally tortured.

In 1936, el-Husseini incited yet another round of riots throughout British controlled Palestine. Riots that led to what has become known as the “Great Arab Revolt of 1936-1939 (ostensibly, against British rule, but which took over 500 Jewish lives).

By 1939, in order to escape British prosecution, el-Husseini took up residence in Iraq, where he, in coordination with the Nazi’s emissaries to Iraq, backed a pro-Nazi coup and they incited on June 1, 1941 in Baghdad (then home to one of the largest and most ancient Jewish communities in the MENA) a 3 day pogrom, known as the “Farhud.” During the Farhud, Arab rioters attacked numerous Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues. By the time this pogrom was over, more than 180 Jews were killed and over 2000 were injured with incredible damage done to hundreds of Jewish homes and businesses.

After the Farhud, and the failure of the pro-Nazi coup in Iraq (which el-Husseini blamed on “the Jews”), el-Husseini escaped to and took up residence in Berlin as a guest of Adolf Hitler. During el-Husseini’s November 1941 meeting with Hitler, which took place as the Nazis were in the midst of invading Russia, Hitler committed to el-Husseini that Germany supported destroying the Jewish communities in the MENA, and of course would help destroy any effort of the Jews to obtain any sovereignty in Palestine.

Given their shared hatred for Jews and penchant for inciting antisemitic violence and murder based on crazy conspiracy theories, Hitler and the Nazis set up el-Husseini as the head of the Nazis’ Arabic-language propaganda network. As part of their collaboration with el-Husseini, the Nazis provided el-Husseini with a hefty budget, an office in Berlin, and dozens of employees who received salaries from the German foreign ministry.

From this office, el-Husseini led the Nazis’ efforts to enlist Arabs to the Nazi cause during WW2. Less than a year later, in anticipation of Nazi Germany defeating the British in North Africa, on July 7, 1942, the “Voice of Free Arabism” led by el-Husseini, played a program titled, “Kill the Jews Before They Kill You.”

Just like the violence incited against Jews in Israel in the 21^st Century by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas leaders, this broadcast began with a lie: “A large number of Jews residing in Egypt and a number of Poles, Greeks, Armenians, and Free French have been issued with revolvers and ammunition” to fight “against the Egyptians at the last moment, when Britain is forced to evacuate Egypt.” The broadcast continued:

“In the face of this barbaric procedure by the British we think it best, if the life of the Egyptian nation is to be saved, that the Egyptians rise as one man to kill the Jews before they have a chance of betraying the Egyptian people. It is the duty of the Egyptians to annihilate the Jews and to destroy their property. … You must kill the Jews, before they open fire on you. Kill the Jews, who have appropriated your wealth and who are plotting against your security.

Arabs of Syria, Iraq, and Palestine, what are you waiting for? The Jews are planning to violate your women, to kill your children and to destroy you. According to the Muslim religion, the defense of your life is a duty which can only be fulfilled by annihilating the Jews. This is your best opportunity to get rid of this dirty race, which has usurped your rights and brought misfortune and destruction on your countries. Kill the Jews, burn their property, destroy their stores, annihilate these base supporters of British imperialism. Your sole hope of salvation lies in annihilating the Jews before they annihilate you.”

The G-dfather of Palestinian Arab nationalism was not, however, satisfied with only inciting Arabs to mass-murder Jews using Nazi race and conspiracy theories.  In the western Balkans, he recruited and helped to lead three SS divisions composed of Bosnian and Albanian Muslims who, along with German SS, helped mass-murder Jews in Croatia and Hungary. And in 1944 and 1945, towards the end of WWII, he helped to incite mass-murder riots targeting and murdering Jews in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.

Notably, the Nazi collaboration and alliance with Arab nationalists did not end with Haj Amin el-Husseini. In October of 1944, 5 men parachuted into British controlled Palestine as part of a Nazi mission called “Operation Atlas.” The 5 Nazi spies, whose mission was to incite attacks against Jews, and even potentially poison the water-supply in Tel Aviv, were 3 German members of the SS and two Arabs, Thulkifl Abdul Latif and Hassan Ali Salameh (the father of Ali Hassan Salameh, who later became a leader of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September and was one of the architects of the Munich Olympics Massacre). And before Operation Atlas, Hassan Salameh worked with el-Husseini and the German Ambassador to Iraq to instigate the Farhud.

The man whom many historians consider to have been el-Husseini’s main competitor for the mantle of leader of the Arabs of Palestine during the British Mandate period,Fawzi al-Qawugji, was also an honored guest of Hitler during WWII. During the 1936-39 “Great Arab Revolt” al-Qawugji led forces separate from el-Husseini to attack and murder Jews. While during the 1930’s al-Qawugji and el-Husseini were rivals in Jew-killing in British controlled Palestine, they “buried the hatchet” when they were in Iraq and became allies in trying to put the Nazis in power in Iraq and when they helped to stage the “Farhud.”

When the Nazis coup in Iraq failed, al-Qawugji found refuge in Nazi Germany where he became a Colonel in the German Army. When WWII ended with the Nazis in defeat, al-Qawugji, apparently undeterred, made his way back to the Middle East and formed the “Arab Liberation Army” (ALA) in response to the UN Partition Plan of 1947. In July of 1947, al-Qawugji said: “the only option is the annihilation of every Jew – in Palestine and in every Arab state.” The ALA subsequently invaded Palestine in March of 1948 nearly 3 months before Israel even declared its independence, with al-Qawugji repeatedly vowing to destroy the Jews before they even dared to declare their independence.

Thankfully, Haj Amin el-Husseini’s, Hassan Ali Salameh’s, and Fawzi al-Qawugji’s close collaboration with the Nazis failed, as did their respective desires to murder the Jews in the land of Israel. But given the rather clear line between the totalitarianism grounded in raw-Jew-hatred that bound the Nazis and these men, as well as the role these men all played in the foundational ideologies of Fatah and Hamas – the two principle terrorist groups literally despotically controlling most Palestinians in the so-called West Bank and in Gaza – it’s truly the “pot calling the kettle black” (or the fascist totalitarian supporters calling Jews Nazis) when Israel-haters compare Israelis to Nazis or Israel to Nazi Germany.

Micha Danzig served in the Israeli Army and is a former police officer with the NYPD. He is currently an attorney and is very active with numerous Jewish and pro-Israel organizations, including Stand With Us and the FIDF, and is a national board member of Herut North America.