Holocaust Memory and Normalization of Arab States with Israel

January 28, 2021

Ever since the conversation of normalization of the Arab countries with Israel started, many Arab countries started to consider and accept Israel as a country. There are many conspiracy theories behind this topic. The Holocaust has become increasingly important in international historical culture, and the murder of six million Jews during the Second World War is arguably the ultimate symbol of evil in Western politics, culture and academia. This fact has had its consequences in the Arab world as well, even though the effects there have been significantly different than in the West. Traditional Arab public discourse has a history of feelings of superiority vis-à-vis the Jews, largely based on Muslim theology. The creation of the State of Israel and its repeated victories over Arab armies have kindled political resentment partly based in this tradition, which in turn has made it virtually impossible to assimilate the dominant Western understanding of the Holocaust into Arab public discourse. Instead, Arab public discourse on the Holocaust is highly politicized and almost always displays hostility toward Israel or Jews. This is particularly true when it comes to the case of Muslim-Brotherhood and now the Houthis too.

Even though the Arab-Israeli conflict is a major motif in this hostile discourse, there is no saying whether a settling of the conflict would open Arab public discourse to the international understanding of the Holocaust and its universal messages of tolerance and anti-racism. However, before we get to that it is important to talk about the fact that 27^th of January marks the memory of the victims of the Holocaust. The Jews and a number of countries and the United Nations always remember this history and express their fears of growing anti-Semitism. Every year around 27 January, UNESCO pays tribute to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and reaffirms its unwavering commitment to counter anti-Semitism, racism, and other forms of intolerance that may lead to group-targeted violence. The date marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau by Soviet troops on 27 January 1945. It was officially of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust by the United Nations General Assembly. It was not a surprise that some of the Arab states expressed their opinion about the memory of the victims of Holocaust.

The start point of this “normalization” and the hostile groups started when The decision by four Arab countries to forge ties with Israel in 2020 was not about peace, love, or understanding. The United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Morocco, and (to a lesser extent) Bahrain were all motivated by narrow interests—including the promise of either advanced weapons or diplomatic favors from the United States. And yet, the normalization deals stand as the most significant breakthrough in the Arab-Israeli conflict since the 1990s. Already, Israel’s interactions with the UAE appear to be warmer than its ties with Egypt and Jordan, Arab countries that forged peace with Israel decades ago. For Palestinians, of course, the deals amount to more tragedy and betrayal. In peace talks over the years, Arab normalization was held out as a prize Israel would get only once it allowed independence for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Instead, Israel has gained acceptance in the region without making significant concessions in return. The Trump administration believed that the UAE’s recognition of Israel advances the cause of peace in the region. But Kenneth M. Pollack, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, makes the opposite case that normalization could antagonize the “Axis of Resistance,” including Iran and Hezbollah, and lead to war. Pollack draws an analogy between the normalization deal and the Anglo-Russian Convention that preceded and perhaps precipitated World War I. One of the groups that are very much against this normalization is the Houthis group. The Muslim Brotherhood is the most hostile to the normalization of Arab countries with Israel. Exploiting the point of designating Al-Houthi as a terrorist group.