The denial of the Holocaust has deeply rooted credibility within the Palestinian society. Many believe that the death of six million Jews in Nazi death concentration camps is a hoax perpetrated by a powerful Zionist propaganda machine. Ignored are the factual testimonies of many thousands of living witnesses and vast amounts of documentary evidence displayed in libraries and museums.

Holocaust denial finds a common cause with the Muslim extremist depiction of Islam as Anti-Jewish and inciting hatred of Jews, describing them as apes and pigs as well as attributing the Prophet’s death to being poisoned by an evil Jewish woman.

In addition, the Palestinian educational curriculum reflects similar tendencies in ignoring to teach young Palestinians about the Holocaust and in teaching anti-Jewish version of the Muslim faith that climaxes in a false Hadith calling for a new Holocaust for Jews on Judgement Day in which trees and stones would speak calling upon Muslims to kill Jews hiding behind them.
Holocaust denial and anti-Jewish teaching thrive in the ongoing poisoned atmosphere of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict.

This explains the outcry for taking Palestinian students to visit Auschwitz and the Jewish ghettos of Kraków to learn history and truth by examining on the ground the factual historic records is a clear indicator of the extent of depth of Holocaust denial in the psyche of Palestinians. Such a trend is not only a threat to academic integrity but undermines the very tenet of objective scholarship that is supported by Islamic calls for the believers to seek knowledge as urged in the Quran in the verse saying, “And say God advance me in knowledge.”

Thus our educational efforts focus on trying to alter the way the Holocaust is being perceived in Palestinian eyes so that truth will be transmitted to the new generation of Palestinians. This would be the least one can do to honor the memories of the Holocaust victims and survivors Jews and non-Jews. It is a painful task that had had generated a deep wedge between be and my people but is a challenge I have dearly embraced in the hope that one day Holocaust denial whether in Palestine and elsewhere will take its rightful place in the garbage of history.

Professor Mohammed Dajani Daoudi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Dajani_Daoudi

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR