In a February 15, 2022 article in the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram, former Egyptian MP Dr. Mostafa El-Feki came out against the notion that Arab and Muslim denial of the Jewish Holocaust does not help the Palestinian cause, noting that the Holocaust is a proven historical fact and that its denial arouses contempt in the West and presents the deniers as accomplices in the Holocaust. Recognition of the Holocaust, he adds, will make it easier for the Arabs to claim that the Jews have exploited this historic event to commit crimes "that are worse than the Holocaust" against the Arabs and Palestinians, and to call on Israel to stop perpetrating Nazi crimes against the Palestinian people. Moreover, Arab solidarity with the victims of the Holocaust will improve the Arabs' image in the eyes of the world, he said, and will be conducive to promoting the Palestinian goals, whereas denying the Holocaust can " cause misunderstanding and lead to a lack of vision and a loss of truth."
Dr. Mostafa El-Feki (Source: Alkhleej.ae)
The following are translated excerpts from his article: [1]
"Back in the day, I was amazed by the statements of former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who spoke fervently and at length about historical facts [that purportedly] belie the Holocaust – which is one of the Nazi crimes perpetrated by Hitler against the Jews on the pretext that they were responsible for Germany's defeat in the [First] World War. [I wondered] if it was wise to deny the Holocaust in an attempt to defend the Palestinian cause and the rights of the struggling [Palestinian] people, who were subjected in various periods to much worse than the Holocaust as part of the Israeli aggression towards them and their land. I was also amazed that many Arab and Muslim writers responded with enthusiasm to Ahmadinejad's opinions and regarded them as promoting the rights of the Palestinians, who have continued to be oppressed throughout the past decades.
"In my opinion, if we, the defenders of the Palestinian cause, deny the Holocaust, it is like attributing a crime to someone who has no connection whatsoever to that crime. It makes us appear as though we were party to [the crime], when the fact is that we are its direct victims, because being suffocated in the Nazi crematoria is what motivated the Jews of the world to express their frustration with this crime by committing other crimes against an innocent people… It is better for us not to deny the Holocaust, whose historicity is proven, but use it to condemn the racist and aggressive crimes committed in the present era, such as the demolition of homes over the heads of Palestinian children, the famous massacres in Deir Yasin and Tantoura, or the fallen of Al-Aqsa and other martyrs of the [Palestinian] cause.
"Moreover, sympathy for the tragedy of the Jews in the Second World War will be a point in our favor and will not harm us [in any way]. Several weeks ago I met with a U.S. delegation that visits various countries and discusses this tragedy of the Holocaust. I expressed my sorrow over it and sympathy for its victims, but demanded to condemn those who use it to increase the oppression and aggression against the struggling Palestinian people. I continue to demand that the lesson of the Holocaust prompt the Jews of the world to pressure Israel to be just towards the Palestinian people, grant them their legitimate rights and stop terrorizing peaceful [Palestinians] and abusing those who are fighting to attain their freedom and regain their land.
"In my opinion, Ahmadinejad's perspective was narrow, and was not conducive to waging an international political and media campaign – one that would yield positive results and help the Palestinians achieve their aims, and would reach every [audience] all over our modern world. On the contrary, many saw his actions as unacceptable, [and likened him to] a bear who throws a stone at his master's face in order to kill a fly resting there!
"We are not the ones who committed the crime [of the Holocaust], yet we have paid for it dearly. Israel and its allies have ceaselessly exploited it, as though we are the ones who burned the Jews and gassed them in ovens. They expected [the Holocaust] to serve as a profound lesson to all of mankind, causing it to stop the crimes of torture and collective extermination and the policy of collective punishment. But [instead], the opposite occurred: It was the Arab nation who paid the highest price for the sake of the just Palestinian cause. In this context, I have three comments to make:
"A. We must reexamine our ways of thinking and debating… and carefully identify the basic parameters of the goals we wish to accomplish. Acknowledging the Holocaust may count in our favor, and can be used to inform the enemy that the fact he survived a crime does not [justify] committing the same crime against another people – for mankind is one and its goals are shared, and there is no need to turn a Nazi crime into a bigger crime against peoples who do not deserve this…
"B. When Western mentality encounters a desperate attempt by an Iranian, Arab or Muslim official to deny the Holocaust, it responds with mockery and does not see this as [an attempt to] defend the Palestinian cause but only to deny the issue of [what happened to] the Jews of Europe in the Second World War. It should be noted that Arab and Islamic countries sympathized with the Jews back then and protected their own Jewish communities. Morocco may be the most blatant example of this. Therefore, I sincerely call to think carefully and do some profound and serious research before rushing to espouse ideas that are doomed to fail [instead of promoting] the noble goal and mighty objective of ending the suffering and pain of the Palestinian people.
"C. Egypt is the ideological laboratory [that cultivated] the Palestinian cause, and therefore we [Egyptians] must selectively identify the general parameters of this cause. Our role is not to repeat every [claim] that is presented – even with good intentions – as promoting our causes but which [in fact] fails to support the message we wish to convey to others in the current international circumstances. We must distinguish between the suffering of others and our own suffering and understand that denying the Jewish Holocaust does not mean supporting the Palestinian cause. On the contrary, it can cause misunderstanding and lead to a lack of vision and a loss of truth.
"We must guide the Arab thinking and media at every opportunity and in every way, because the world we want is one in which everyone is happy, without exception."
[1] Al-Ahram (Egypt), February 15, 2022.
