From the beginning of his rule in 1936 until the end of World War II, the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco’s sympathies unquestionably lay with Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, yet he assiduously maintained Spain’s neutrality during the war. A number of Jews, moreover, found refuge from the Nazis in Spanish territory, and as many as 35,000 crossed through Spain on their way to safety. As a result of these facts, he has developed a reputation as a vaguely benevolent figure in Jewish history. A new book by Paul Preston tells a very different story. Robert Philpot writes:

Despite the fact that Spain’s Jewish population numbered no more than 6,000 in 1936, the fiction that the country’s Catholic civilization was under assault from a conspiracy, directed by Jews and carried out by Communists and Freemasons, was the central justification for the Civil War that Franco prosecuted [in the 1930s].

As he slaughtered his way to victory, Franco repeatedly assailed the Jews. The crimes of the “red hordes,” he declared, were inspired by “the limitless cruelty of an accursed race.” Spain had been torn apart by “Judaizing freemasonry.” And, as he finally took Madrid in May 1939, he spoke of the need to “extinguish . . . the Jewish spirit that facilitated the alliance of big capital with Marxism.”

The new regime’s racial policy was clear from the outset: Jews (with the exception of those who had proved their “loyalty to the Movimiento Nacional”) and those who had a “marked Jewish character” were to be barred from entering Spain; the identity papers and residence permits of Jews were stamped with the word “Judío” in red ink; and, as late as 1957, police personal dossiers were referring to individuals as dangerous because of their “Israelite origins.”

Jews who arrived illegally [during the war years] and didn’t have onward visas were detained in squalid camps such as Miranda de Ebro. Others were turned back at the border. And Franco also allowed the Nazis to seize German Jews and return them to the Third Reich.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.