Subscribe Today
Request a Clip
British historian Dr. Osman Latiff [also spelled Uthman Lateef], in a February 3, 2024 episode of "Empowered by Islam21c" podcast titled: "Don't Let Israelis Hijack the Holocaust", equated Nazi Germany's conduct during the Holocaust and Israel’s modern day policies. Dr. Salman Butt, the host of the podcast asked whether there are parallels between Israel's claims that it is attacking Gaza in defense against rockets and terrorism and Nazi Germany. Latiff replied that the Nazis did a very similar thing, claiming they were being attacked and inflating the numbers of their casualties, and that like the Israelis, they criticized the scrutiny of their actions by the allies. He went on to say that the Nazis saw themselves as victims under the oppression of "certain European powers," who were just defending themselves. Latiff added that Jews "say the same thing today," and that they exaggerate and "inflate the numbers."
Latiff claimed that just as the Nazis located Auschwitz near an industrial center, so do Tel Aviv, Israeli progress in industry, and its scientific accomplishments, give of a "fake veneer of civility" to the country. He said these should not serve as a distraction, because sometimes "within the cloak of civility people can commit the worse of all deeds." Later in the podcast, Latiff said that prominent Holocaust survivor Eli Wiesel seeks to hijack and politicize the Holocaust, and called on listeners to be "more morally courageous," and change the way history is taugh.
Dr. Salman Butt: "What can we learn, in terms of remembrance from the Holocaust? What are some of the parallels and so forth when it comes to what's happening in Gaza?
[...]
"Lots of apologists for Israeli crimes online, on Twitter, for example, they hit back at comparisons to Nazis and so forth, saying, among other things: 'We are being attacked, we are just defending ourselves, we're the ones who are the victim. Palestinians did a terrorist attack, or they are throwing rockets, so we're defending ourselves. So, we have to do this.'
"Is there a parallel in the Nazi Holocaust of this type of discourse?"
Dr. Osman Latiff: "Yes, there is absolute parallel because the Nazis said the same things. The Nazis said: 'We are being attacked'. The Nazis, in fact, inflated numbers, they criticized any scrutiny of their actions by the Allied powers. The Nazis had very similar thing.
[...]
"The Nazis saw themselves, Germans, as victims, as under oppression, because of the strength of European powers, and whenever they lashed out, they said: 'We are simply defending ourselves.' The Jews say the same thing today, but they also have the same thing as the Nazis... The fact that they... When it comes to, for example, numbers they exaggerate, inflate the numbers.
[...]
"There are many, like you mentioned. I remember when we went to Auschwitz, we drove from Krakov, the cultural hub of Poland, to Auschwitz, but we passed by a town or a village, called Oświęcim. We were told that Oświęcim was this industrial city during the Holocaust and it provided a bit of a cover for the world, because they couldn't believe... How could you have the horrors of the Holocaust happening right next to industrial center called Oświęcim. I think that sense of cover is very typical and is very repeated today.
"[It is ] the same when people see, for example, progress of Tel Aviv. They talk about Tel Aviv and industry, progress, scientific wonders, and big buildings, and whatever. And then, of course, just around the corner you have a genocide committed against Gaza.
"I think that sense of fake veneer of civility should never be a distraction for us because that can be, and it should never [be]. And I think that’s something we should be wary of because sometimes within the cloak of civility that people can commit the worst of all deeds.
[...]
"People like Eli Wiesel, kind of, seek to politicize, weaponize the Holocaust only on behalf of..."
Butt: "Hijack it."
Latiff: "Yeah, hijack it. I think that we should be more morally courageous and brave than that. And for our children, for the next generation of people to realize that that's not the way we should teach history."
Latest Clips
