Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib attempted to rewrite history recently by claiming that the Arabs of the British Mandate for Palestine (they would not be called “Palestinians” until decades later) provided “safe haven” to Jews before, during, and after the Holocaust.
Here’s the controversial quote from Tlaib (emphasis added):
“There’s always kind of a calming feeling I tell folks when I think of the Holocaust, and the tragedy of the Holocaust, and the fact that it was my ancestors — Palestinians — who lost their land and some lost their lives, their livelihood, their human dignity, their existence in many ways, have been wiped out, and some people’s passports. And just all of it was in the name of trying to create a safe haven for Jews, post-the Holocaust, post-the tragedy and the horrific persecution of Jews across the world at that time. And I love the fact that it was my ancestors that provided that, right, in many ways. But they did it in a way that took their human dignity away and it was forced on them.”
In reality, the Palestinian Arabs tried to prevent Jews fleeing Nazi persecution from arriving, cooperated with the Nazis, persecuted, boycotted, and attacked Jews (including communities centuries old), and helped lead a self-described Jihad to massacre and expel the Jews when Israel declared independence. But because many critics focused on the “calming feeling” term, Democrat and media supporters of Tlaib claimed she was taken out of context.
We explored Tlaib’s historical fabrication in detail in Rep. Rashida Tlaib Falsely Claims Palestinian Arabs Created “a Safe Haven” for Jews During and After The Holocaust and again in Top Democrats’ defense of Rashida Tlaib’s Holocaust inversion and revisionism is unforgivable:
Putting aside the “calming feeling” wording, the Tlaib statement contains two themes: First, the Palestinians are the true victims of the Holocaust because it forced the Jewish survivors on them causing loss of land, property and lives; and Two, Palestinians helped create a safe haven for the Jews at much personal and national sacrifice.The first point, portraying Palestinians as the true victims of the Holocaust, is a historically perverse and malicious claim. Six millions Jews died, Jewish communities throughout Europe were wiped out, yet it is the Palestinians — who backed the Nazi effort — who are portrayed as the victims. It is fair to consider this an offshoot of Holocaust Inversion, the attempt to portray the Jewish victims of the Nazis as the Nazis. It’s also a historical theft, an attempt to deprive Jews of their history and to repurpose that history to attack Jews.The second point, that Palestinians supposedly helped provide safe haven to Jews during and after the Holocaust, is a historical falsehood of immense magnitude. We explored this falsehood in our prior post, pointing out that the Arabs of the British Mandate (who did not refer to themselves at that time as Palestinians, a more recent term), boycotted, slaughtered, and discriminated against Jews throughout the time period, and did everything they could to prevent Jews from finding a safe haven. The Grand Mufti was a strong supporter of Hitler and the extermination of the Jews.
Rabbi Schmueli Boteach, both personally and through groups he runs, is very high profile on issues related to Israel and anti-Semitism. Because he has defended Trump against accusations that Trump is anti-Semitic and has praised Trump’s actions towards Israel, Boteach is particularly hated by anti-Israel activists, particularly from the American Jewish Left. Boteach and Corey Booker were once close friends, but now they don’t get along in large part over Booker’s support for the Iran deal.
Boteach’s group took out an advertisement that ran yesterday in the NY Times taking Tlaib to task:
The advertisement is accurate. It accurately debunks Tlaib’s historical fabrication, making many of the same points we made in our coverage:
The advertisement has brought out a who’s-who of Israel haters, led by James Zogby, a Bernie-Democrat known for trying to realign U.S. policy on Israel (second from right in image below, appearing on panel during 2016 Democratic Convention, alongside Keith Ellison and Linda Sarsour).
Zogby is obsessive about Israel, including accusing it of culinary “genocide”:
So it’s not surprising that Zogby is leading the charge against the advertisement, accusing Boteach of trying to incite violence against Tlaib:
This is a dishonest & dangerous assault on @RashidaTlaib by far-right Shmuley Boteach. He funnels dark money into attack ads like this that distort the truth & put people’s lives at risk. It’s not an ad, it’s incitement. Shame on @nytimes for running it. #handsoffRashida.
Boteach responded:
Thanks James for highlighting our ad. I understand you are extremely uncomfortable w/ Jews who challenge anti-Semites like @RashidaTlaib & would deny our people the right to defend ourselves. What puts lives at risk is the demonization of the Jewish people which all must condemn.
Many others made a similar point, the advertisement was accurate:
“If Not Now” – an anti-Israel front group, chimed in:
Absolutely disgusting attack on @RashidaTlaib from Shmuley Boteach. Terrible that @nytimes published it. Rashida, we will fight back against this and have your back when extremists on the right weaponize antisemitism against you.
The Mullah-supporting anti-Zionist lunatics at Code Pink are trying to build their email list off of the advertisement:
Israel haters can’t handle the truth.
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