Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a smart man. He knows history as well as the rest of us. Unlike many others I’ve spoken to and likely reading this article, I personally refuse to jump on the anti-Bibi bandwagon. It is my belief that the recent comments made by Netanyahu at a World Zionist Congress conference claiming that the Palestinian Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini convinced Adolph Hitler to kill the Jews, was part of a much larger overall strategy to bring the situation to the forefront and expose the blatant worldwide hypocrisy as it relates to the value of Jewish life.
I’ve listened to a lot of people express their anger or disappointment in Netanyahu’s statement regarding the Mufti’s influence on Hitler and how damaging his Holocaust revisionism is to the overall situation. Let’s see now. What negative impact will it have exactly? Will it open the door for random terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians? Will it cause the world to turn a blind eye to the murder of Israelis? Will it cause Israel’s allies to open the door to a nuclear agreement with a terrorist government hell-bent on Israel’s destruction? Will it cause Palestinian leadership to tell lies about Israel? Oh wait. Those things are already happening.
Being the son of Holocaust survivors and having penned a book that covers their experiences during the Nazi occupation, I understand how sacred the discussion and memory of the Holocaust is to so many. I understand the responsibility a Jewish leader has to guarding this sanctity. That being said, Israel’s leaders have one overwhelming responsibility, and that responsibility is to keep Jews safe, not only in Israel but all over the world. Did Netanyahu’s comments make Jews less safe? Were they safe before his speech? Will the world remain silent as Jews get murdered in towns that were once peaceful homes? Was the world showing any real anger before his speech?
We all know the answer to these questions whether we care to admit it or not. Instead of expressing outrage for the murders of innocents in Israel, the UN was preparing to discuss the merits in declaring the Western Wall, the holiest site in the world for Jews, a Muslim site.
Let’s pretend that Netanyahu knowingly revised history here. Is it worse than Hamas consistently accusing Israel of targeting civilians? It’s certainly being approached as though it is. Is it wrong if Netanyahu is playing their game, telling a lie for impact? That’s debatable. I understand the concept of taking the high road, of not sinking to their level. But truth be told, Netanyahu’s comments brought the entire situation far more to the forefront. In fact the frequency of attacks seems to have slowed down since his comments. Maybe the Palestinian leadership that claims to have no direct influence on its citizens’ fury are actually reeling in the violent protagonists. And maybe, just maybe, in making this claim today, Netanyahu is attempting to alert the world to the real intent of today’s Muslim extremists. That intent is clearly another genocide committed against the Jewish people. Exposing them is not incendiary, it’s enforcing the concept of Never Again.
Is what Netanyahu said accurate? All evidence I know of shows it not to be. Is what he said commendable? On its own merit we would have to say no. But if we dig deeper and see its true impact we have to be careful to jump on the anti-Bibi bandwagon. Maybe, just maybe his comments do more to protect Jewish lives than hurt them. Either way, as the world tends to remain quiet as Jews get randomly murdered, I personally believe attacking Netanyahu, even if based in some legitimacy, does nothing more than feed into the double standard, something far more damaging.
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