Netanyahu's Claim That A Palestinian Inspired The Holocaust Sparks Outrage

NPR

Published October 22, 2015 at 3:51 PM CDT

World leaders and World War II historians are criticizing remarks Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made earlier this week, that it was a Palestinian religious leader who gave Adolf Hitler the idea to exterminate the Jews during World War II.

Speaking before the Zionist Congress Tuesday night, Netanyahu said, “Hitler didn’t want to exterminate the Jews at the time; he wanted to expel the Jews. And Haj Amin al-Husseini went to Hitler and said, ‘If you expel them, they’ll all come here.’ ‘So what should I do with them?’ he asked. He said, ‘Burn them.’ ”

Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson talks with Alon Confino, professor of history at the University of Virginia and Ben-Gurion University in Israel, and author of “A World Without Jews: The Nazi Imagination From Persecution To Genocide,” about the veracity and the significance of Netanyahu’s remarks.

[Youtube]

Guest

Alon Confino, professor of history at the University of Virginia and Ben-Gurion University in Israel, and author of “A World Without Jews: The Nazi Imagination From Persecution To Genocide.”