Israel And The Hezbollah Threat

The Holocaust That Never Happened

by Izabella Tabarovsky

[September 27, 2021] - In the run-up to the 80th anniversary of the Babi Yar massacre, we asked several young Russian-speaking North American Jews to interview Holocaust survivors from the Soviet Union.

The stories they brought back are unlike most of what American Jews’ collective memory of the Holocaust contains. Most take place in the summer and fall of 1941—the chaotic first months of the German-Soviet war and occupation, and the early stage of the Jewish genocide. The Holocaust at this point is far from the well-oiled machine we remember it as. At this point, the most high-tech solution to the “Jewish problem” is still Einsatzgruppen commander Friedrich Jeckeln’s “sardine method” of packing people as tightly as possible in the shooting pits before murdering them.

The absence of streamlined mass murder solutions, however, did not prevent the Germans, their allies, and local collaborators from murdering 2.7 million Jews in these territories. Fewer than 120,000 Jews are estimated to have survived the genocide here.

(…)

Some 250,000 Jews were murdered [in Transnistria, an administrative entity established by the Romanians in southeastern Ukraine] by starvation, brutal forced marches, disease, forced labor, and mass executions. And yet, this horrific place offered an ever-so-slightly higher chance of survival if one was, perhaps, a bit stronger and healthier, a bit more resourceful, and much, much luckier than most. By contrast, virtually no one survived mass shooting events such as Babi Yar in the German-occupied Soviet territories.

(…)

[Efraim Donitz] was only 3 when his family moved to a ghetto in Transnistria some 80 years ago. I doubted he would remember much. But I was wrong. “I remember everything,” he said. “That’s the problem.”

Despite his vivid memories, he spoke of the period like he was giving a history lecture, rather than relaying personal experience. But there were brief moments in which Efraim was overcome with emotion. They happened most frequently when he spoke about how the world remembers—or, rather, doesn’t remember—those events rather than the events themselves.

A few years ago, he and his wife embarked on a pilgrimage through the sites of the occupation. He wanted to show these places to his children and grandchildren because he had been there: “I lost my mother there, and I lost my sister. It’s a part of my life.”

When they were looking for Babi Yar in Kyiv, their tour guide took them to the wrong memorial. For a long time, they couldn’t find a driver who would be willing to take them to the actual site of the massacres. When they finally got there, they found it desecrated. Later, they were told that their tour guide and the drivers likely knew exactly where Babi Yar was, but refused to take them. It made them angry.

Back home in Los Angeles, Efraim tried to get others to hear about it. “I’ve tried everywhere, nobody wants to listen,” he said. He volunteered to teach at the Holocaust museum, and though the museum’s donors appeared very enthusiastic about the idea, he never got a call back.

“I’m just disappointed in the whole thing.” This time, the crack in his demeanor was almost a sob.

Most of the world didn’t have an obligation to remember Babi Yar, he said. But Jews do.

“That is why this is the Holocaust that never happened.”

(…)

lalshareef

The first time I listened to Subliminal was in 2010, with the songs ‘Tikva’ and ‘My Beloved Land.’ I could never have imagined that one day I would be sitting, relaxing, and engaging in deep conversations with this incredible person! But look at what the Abraham Accords have achieved. Here we are, in #Dubai ♥️

Subliminal & The Shadow - Tikva (Hope)

To the person reading this, I hope tonight treats you gently, and that tomorrow looks brighter

The Quantum History of Palestine

The Palestinian struggle for freedom is as old as time itself. Actually, it’s outside of time. I’ll explain.

Look at this poster from 1947.

That’s a Zionist poster.

Fine, but how can you not shed a tear at this plea from 1940?

Dang it! That’s also a Zionist poster!

Okay, but this exhibition from 1925 must be…

Oh crap. Tel Aviv. Totally Jewish. Totally Zionist.

Yeah, fine, okay, whatever. But this poster from 1919…

Damn! Zionist!

Fine! But this iconic poster, used by Free Palestiners everywhere is surely…

…the work of Zionist artist Franz Krausz, created to encourage Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine.

Turns out that until recently “free Palestine” was a Jewish motto.

You see, the word “Palestine” was first used as a political term by Roman Emperor Hadrian in order to punish the rebellious Jews by renaming Judea after its ancient enemies, the Philistines. Sort of like if someone renamed modern Israel “Naziporkistan.”

While the name was used by both the Roman Empire and the Arab Empire, it wasn’t used by the Islamic Ottoman Empire, which ruled the region from 1517 to 1917.

So how was this region called for half a millenia? Well, It wasn’t called anything. Instead of being a single province like in Roman and Arab times, it was split between the Beirut vilayet, the Jerusalem Mutasarrifate, and the Hejaz vilayet, which also included parts of Egypt, Arabia and Lebanon. The people who lived there had no more national identity than the people of Madison county. 

They were just Ottoman subjects.

So the British didn't conquer Palestine in 1917. They created it.

If you look at the UN partition map from 1947, you’ll see that Mandatory Palestine is divided between Jews and Arabs. No mention of a Palestinian people.

If you called an Arab living in mandatory Palestine, “Palestinian,” he’d be either confused or offended. For example, in the First Congress of Muslim-Christian Associations which met in Jerusalem in 1919, the following resolution was adopted: 

"We consider Palestine as part of Arab Syria, as it has never been separated from it at any time. We are connected with it by national, religious, linguistic, natural, economic and geographical bonds."

In 1937, the Arab leader Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi, told the Peel Commission: 

"There is no such country! 'Palestine' is a term the Zionists invented! There is no Palestine in the Bible. Our country was for centuries part of Syria."

In 1947, the representative of the Arab Higher Committee to the United Nations submitted the following statement to the General Assembly: 

"Palestine is part of the Province of Syria… the Arabs of Palestine were not independent in the sense of forming a separate political entity."

A few years later, Ahmad Shukeiri, first chairman of the PLO, told the Security Council: 

"It is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but southern Syria."

Okay, so no Palestinians in British times, just Arabs who wanted to make Syria great again. 

Contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t Israel who first occupied Gaza and the West Bank. It was Egypt and Jordan. 

This means that between 1948 and 1967, Gaza and the West Bank were under Egyptian and Jordanian control. The Arabs had also “liberated” these regions from the Jewish communities who existed there for thousands of years. This was followed by 20 years of Judenfrei Arab rule.

What happened to the Palestinian dream during those years?

In 1950, Jordan upgraded its occupation to an outright annexation. Surprisingly, no one had a problem with it. In the words of American diplomat Stuart W. Rockwell:

"The union of Arab Palestine and Jordan had been brought about as a result of the will of the people."

During these 20 years, the hundreds of thousands of Arabs who fled Israel were never resettled by the countries who accepted them (unlike the nearly million Jews expelled by the same countries or the Arabs who remained in Israel). If these people were indeed Palestinians and Gaza and the West Bank were Palestine, why not resettle the Palestinians in this Palestinian territory? Why deny them and their children and their grandchildren citizenship even as their compatriots who stayed in Israel became citizens?

We’re in the ‘60s now. This is still an imperialist struggle by Arab colonizers to reconquer a small bit of land from the unruly natives… except it’s not the kind of story people like to hear so the Palestine Liberation Organization is formed in Cairo.

Its goals include “Arab Unity” and the “liberation of Palestine”. Interestingly, it makes no territorial claims over the West Bank or Gaza, making us wonder what exactly “liberation of Palestine” means?

Here’s a quote from the first speech by its first leader:

"It is either us or the Israelis. We shall destroy Israel and its inhabitants and as for the survivors – if there are any – the boats are ready to deport them."

Only after Israel gained control over Gaza and the West Bank, suddenly they became part of the future Palestinian state. It’s almost as if the borders of Palestine change all the time to correspond exactly with the borders of Israel. If Israel disappeared, Palestine would disappear. I wonder… If Israel moved to Alaska… 

But we digress!

In 1995, prominent Arab anti-Zionist activist and politician Azmi Bishra said:

“I don't think there is such a thing as a "Palestinian nation", I think it's a colonial invention, when were there Palestinians? Where is it? I think there is an Arab nation.”

In 2012 Hamas Minister of the Interior and of National Security Fathi Hammad said:

"Half of the Palestinians Are Egyptians and the Other Half Are Saudis."

Seems that in order to understand Palestinian history and geography, you have to be a time traveling 4D chess player. Nevertheless, I’ll try to summarize: the Palestinians were invented in the ‘60s because imperialism went out of fashion and indigenous struggles became fashionable… but only in the West. This required a degree of chameleonism. 

When talking to a Muslim audience, they’re part of the great Arab nation fighting to reclaim lost Islamic territory. When speaking to a Western audience, they’re an oppressed indigenous minority that existed since dinosaur times.

In short, Palestine is a masterpiece of doublethink!

URI KURLIANCHIK

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