The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, with Nazi Encouragement, Made Anti-Semitism Part of Islamism

While some historians have argued otherwise, Amin Haj al-Husseini—the grand mufti of Jerusalem prior to World War II—did not influence the Final Solution; he did, however, form a close alliance with Nazi Germany, which protected him and supported him financially, in exchange for his production of pro-Nazi propaganda for the Muslim world. Most importantly, writes Jeffrey Herf, the mufti’s lasting legacy was his contribution to a particular strain of Islamic anti-Semitism:

In his confidential conversations with German diplomats and then in a major public speech in Syria in 1937, Husseini made clear that his opposition to Zionism was rooted in his interpretation of Islam. Husseini’s importance . . . lay in his ability to weave together an interpretation of Islam and the secular language of Arab nationalism and anti-colonialism. In his reading of the Quran and its commentaries, Islam emerges as a religion that is inherently anti-Semitic and is hostile both to the religion of Judaism and to [Jews themselves].

Husseini was one of the founding fathers of the ideological tradition [now] known as . . . Islamism. That tradition, which continues in our own time, has Sunni and Shia variations, but its original base was in the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood, which inspired such subsequent organizations as al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hizballah, and Islamic State—[as well as] the Islamic Republic of Iran. Despite their differences, [these entities] all share a conviction that, among other things, the message of Islam is inherently anti-Jewish and anti-democratic and that it provides justification for terrorism against Jews, “non-believers,” and “infidels” such as Christians, as well as Muslims who take a different view of Islam.

Read more at Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

More about: Amin Haj al-Husseini, Anti-Semitism, History & Ideas, Islamism, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Nazism

It’s Time for Haredi Jews to Become Part of Israel’s Story

Unless the Supreme Court grants an extension from a recent ruling, on Monday the Israeli government will be required to withhold state funds from all yeshivas whose students don’t enlist in the IDF. The issue of draft exemptions for Haredim was already becoming more contentious than ever last year; it grew even more urgent after the beginning of the war, as the army for the first time in decades found itself suffering from a manpower crunch. Yehoshua Pfeffer, a haredi rabbi and writer, argues that haredi opposition to army service has become entirely disconnected from its original rationale:

The old imperative of “those outside of full-time Torah study must go to the army” was all but forgotten. . . . The fact that we do not enlist, all of us, regardless of how deeply we might be immersed in the sea of Torah, brings the wrath of Israeli society upon us, gives a bad name to all of haredi society, and desecrates the Name of Heaven. It might still bring harsh decrees upon the yeshiva world. It is time for us to engage in damage limitation.

In Pfeffer’s analysis, today’s haredi leaders, by declaring that they will fight the draft tooth and nail, are violating the explicit teachings of the very rabbis who created and supported the exemptions. He finds the current attempts by haredi publications to justify the status quo not only unconvincing but insincere. At the heart of the matter, according to Pfeffer, is a lack of haredi identification with Israel as a whole, a lack of feeling that the Israeli story is also the haredi story:

Today, it is high time we changed our tune. The new response to the demand for enlistment needs to state, first and foremost to ourselves, that this is our story. On the one hand, it is crucial to maintain and even strengthen our isolation from secular values and culture. . . . On the other hand, this cultural isolationism must not create alienation from our shared story with our fellow brethren living in the Holy Land. Participation in the army is one crucial element of this belonging.

Read more at Tzarich Iyun

More about: Haredim, IDF, Israeli society