THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VIII, Issue # 247, December 18, 2006
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
RIGHTEOUS MUSLIMS -- A BRIEFING BY ROBERT SATLOFF:
SCHOLAR DELVES INTO ARAB HEROES OF THE HOLOCAUST
By Rachel Silverman
THE ARABS & ANTI-SEMITISM DURING THE WORLD WAR II ERA: NAZI GERMANY, ANTI-SEMITISM, & EXTENSION
OF THE HOLOCAUST INTO THE ISLAMIC MIDDLE EAST -- STORIES OF ARABS WHO SECRETLY OPPOSED THE HOLOCAUST
& HELPED JEWS ESCAPE THE CLUTCHES OF THE NAZIS & THEIR COLLABORATORS -- ROBERT SATLOFF'S SEARCH FOR AN
ANTIDOTE TO THE TREND OF HOLOCAUST DENIAL & TRIVIALIZATION IN THE ARAB WORLD
FULL STORY:
Recently, about 60 "scholars" from around the world gathered for a conference on Arab soil to debate the veracity of the
Holocaust, and to call for more "proof" on the subject.
Had Robert Satloff, Executive Director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, been invited, he might have told
them to simply look outside.
According to Satloff's new book, Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust's Reach into Arab Lands,
not only did the Holocaust play out in Arab countries like Morocco, Tunisia and Libya, but Arabs themselves were
involved -- both as rescuers and perpetrators.
Speaking Monday night, December 11, at the Jewish Community Services Building in Philadelphia, Satloff framed his
11-country, four-year search into this story as a potential antidote to the trend of Holocaust denial and trivialization in the
Arab world.
What's more, Satloff's lecture -- jointly sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia's Center for Israel and
Overseas, the Middle East Forum, the Gershman Y, and the National Museum of American Jewish History -- even
attempted to put a positive spin on Arab involvement in the Holocaust.
As the scholar writes: "If I could tell the story of a single Arab who saved a single Jew during the Holocaust, then perhaps
I could make Arabs see the Holocaust as a source of pride, worthy of remembering, not just something to avoid or deny."
To begin this undertaking, Satloff said that he had to dispel the notion that the Holocaust was strictly a European
phenomenon.
Seeking firsthand evidence to support his thesis, Satloff -- who lived in Rabat, Morocco, with his wife and children for 2
and a half years during the research process -- interviewed Jewish and Arab witnesses, combed through archives and
drove along the route of the Trans-Sahara railway.
During that time, Satloff determined that the 500,000 Jews in French North Africa during World War II experienced "all the
precursors of the final solution" that Jews on the European continent did -- anti-Jewish laws, deportations, forced labor
camps -- except that they were spared the gas chambers.
He also found that the relationship between Arabs and Nazis ranged from Arabs "in complete cahoots with the Nazis and
with Vichy France" to "breathtaking stories of Arabs who, in some cases, risked everything to save Jews."
In fact, his search for an Arab Oskar Schindler yielded Si Ali Sakkat, a former mayor of Tunis, Tunisia, who sheltered 60
Jewish workers when they showed up at his farm, and Si Kaddour Benghabrit, Rector of the Great Mosque of Paris, who
gave 100 Jews counterfeit Muslim identity papers.
FINDING THE STORIES
Satloff's book also asks a significant question: Why haven't these stories been told?
He offered two answers: "Jews didn't look too hard," and "Arabs didn't want to be found."
Satloff blamed Jews for overemphasizing the Holocaust as an Ashkenazi narrative. But Arabs, too, should be faulted for
this omission, he said.
Because many Arabs remain wary of any narrative that paints Jews as victims -- and that could potentially legitimize the
founding of Israel -- Satloff said the Arab world has generally regarded Arab Holocaust stories as downright "toxic." But,
according to the scholar, relaying such information is potentially beneficial for both parties.
Though Satloff admitted that he's "not a romantic on the possibility of making peace between Arabs and Jews anytime
soon," he's "encouraged" by e-mail from Arabs assuming responsibility for their actions during the Nazi period.
"Given what is going on in the Middle East today, I'll take whatever progress we can get."
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Jews & Anti-Semitism
Europe, Europeans, & Anti-Semitism
Israel -- The Israeli-Arab Conflict
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
Islamism & Jihadism -- Radical Islam & Islamic Terrorism
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
International Politics & World Disorder:
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Robert Satloff is the Executive Director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the author of Among the
Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust's Reach into Arab Lands. Mr. Satloff, a specialist in Middle Eastern politics
and U.S. Middle East policy, is the author or editor of nine books and monographs. His views on Middle East issues have
appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the Los
Angeles Times. As creator and host of "Dakhil Washington" ("Inside Washington"), a weekly program on al-Hurra,
the Arabic satellite television channel, he is the only non-Arab to host a program on an Arab satellite channel. Mr. Satloff
addressed the Middle East Forum on December 11, 2006. The foregoing article is an account of Satloff's briefing, as reported
by Rachel Silverman in the Jewish Exponent.
The foregoing article, written by Rachel Silverman and originally published in the Jewish Exponent, December 14, 2006,
can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum.
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
December 18, 2006
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