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Monday, May 17, 2010

Saudi newspaper complains that Israeli Arabs study the Holocaust

A columnist in Saud Arabia's Al Watan writes about how Israel is mandating that Israeli Arabs include the Holocaust in their curricula.

He's not happy.

Not only is the Holocaust exaggerated, he says ("parts are true, but not near the size that Zionist propaganda claims,") but the Jews were partially responsible for the Holocaust.

For example, the sinking of the Patria in Haifa in 1940 was done by Jews, killing some 267 "Zionists," so (according to his logic) they are also responsible for killing Jewish refugees, just like Nazi Germany!

(The British, under Arab pressure, did not allow the 1800 refugees on the Patria ocean liner to disembark in Haifa and planned to deport them to Mauritus. The Haganah, intending to keep the ship in port for a few extra days in order to convince the British to let the Jews stay, exploded a bomb intended to cause minor damage to the ship to stop that journey. They miscalculated and the bomb sunk the ship.)

The writer concludes that teaching the Holocaust is against Arab and Muslim world public opinion and therefore inappropriate to be taught to those groups.

Just a taste of the moderate Arab world, from a moderate Saudi newspaper.