1929 Hebron massacre-the rest of the story

Dear Editor:

Thank you for publishing the story by Josh Hasten, “In remembering 1929 Hebron Massacre, top Israeli leaders visit...and make history” (Sept. 13, 2019 issue). The article explains how in August 1929, “67 Jews were murdered by an Arab lynch mob over the course of three days while their homes and synagogues were destroyed.”

Understanding the 1929 Hebron Massacre will bring the rise in anti-Semitism today into a more precise focus.

The “Arab Lynch Mob,” defined as the culprits of the massacre, was an Arab Muslim mob manufactured by its leader, “Mohammed Amin al-Husseini was a Palestinian Arab nationalist and Muslim leader in Mandatory Palestine.”The Hebron Massacre was fueled by the anti-Semitism of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammad Amin al Husseini.” 

Lyn Julius of The Jewish Journal, Feb. 8, 2018 reported, “The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, al Husseini, met with Hitler in Berlin in November 1941 to discuss the extermination of the Jews in the Middle East. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem spent the rest of the war as a guest of the Nazis.

Adolf Eichmann’s deputy Dieter Wisliceny (later executed as a war criminal) in his Nuremberg Trials testimony stated, “the Mufti of Jerusalem was one of Eichmann’s best friends and had constantly incited him to accelerate the extermination measures.

“On a visit to Auschwitz, the Mufti reportedly admonished the guards running the gas chambers to work more diligently. Throughout the war, he broadcast regularly on German radio to the Middle East, preaching his pro-Nazi, anti-Semitic message to the Arab masses back home.”

One must understand the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and his millions of Muslim supporters hated the Jews long before Israel became a state in 1948. A significant percentage of Middle Eastern and North African Muslims wanted to bring the concentration camps of Auschwitz —Birkenau, Belzec, Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, Chelmno, and Dachau to the Middle East.

The well of anti-Semitism runs deep. Once that anti-Semitism becomes ‘normalized,’ as it is now, many people too quickly wrap themselves in a comfortable blanket of Jewish hatred.

Now that you know the rest of the story on the 1929 Hebron Massacre, understanding the anti-Semitism of today and tomorrow will be easier to rationalize and understand.

Alan Kornman

Chuluota