Benjamin Netanyahu has always been a divisive politician. Throughout his career, he has been openly antagonistic to the Palestinians, been aggressive with US president Barack Obama and, on the eve of Israel’s last election, made explicitly racist comments about Palestinian citizens of Israel voting in “droves”. Most Israelis have bought into this type of bombastic political posturing. After all, Mr Netanyahu has been repeatedly voted into office.
Addressing a conference in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Mr Netanyahu said that Adolf Hitler only wanted to expel Europe’s Jews during the Second World War but it was the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin Al Husseini, who persuaded Hitler to “burn them”. This erroneous claim caused immediate global outrage. Leading Israeli Holocaust scholar Yehuda Bauer called the comments “idiotic” and Germany was forced to officially remind the Israeli prime minster that it was solely responsible for the Holocaust.
Israeli politicians have evoked the memory of the Holocaust for political gain for decades. While this practice cheapens the memory of the victims, it has become standard practice on a state level. But these recent comments take the practice to a new low and the backlash suggests that Mr Netanyahu might have finally crossed the line. The Israeli press – across the ideological spectrum – has roundly denounced Mr Netanyahu’s twisted rewriting of history.
These comments are the most powerful reminder that Mr Netanyahu’s leadership of Israel continues to be bad for Palestinians, Israelis and the region as a whole. Mr Netanyahu has demonstrated time and again that he is only concerned with short-term goals and cares little about the consequences of his actions.
At this time of heightened tension in Israel and Palestine, these comments constitute incitement. Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat recently appealed to citizens who had firearm licences to arm themselves. After a Palestinian opened fire on a bus station in Beer Sheva, an Israeli mob beat to death an African refugee who was mistakenly identified as the gunman. New checkpoints and roadblocks have been constructed across the West Bank and East Jerusalem as clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers continue. In other words, the situation is volatile. Mr Netanyahu’s bogus claim that the Palestinians caused the Holocaust reveals that seemingly nothing is off-limits in Tel Aviv. Incitement has become official policy.
