JOURNALfor the STUDYof ANTISEMITISM

2011] CONFLUENT IDEOLOGIES—NAZISM AND ISLAMISM 301
ports that had the exhaust hooked up to the cargo section of the van, delivering
lethal doses of carbon monoxide to the passengers/cargo. The
readiness of this unit, along with the assurances of Arab leaders of assistance
in the mass murder of the Jewish populations, gave little doubt of the
antisemitic genocide about to take place. The precedent had been set. The
Einsatzkommando had a tried-and-true protocol, tested in Europe, that they
were about use in the implementation of the Holocaust in the Middle East.
While the Mufti and Arabs enjoyed a honeymoon of hate with the
Third Reich, there were Arab troops in Greece waiting for deployment.
Eichmann was bragging about the success of “the solution to the European
Jewish Question.” Eichmann and the Mufti were equally charmed with each
other; the Jews were their mutual mortal enemy.
In the Arab world, people were greeting each other on the street with
“Heil Rommel.” Nasser was an advocate of The Protocols of the Elders of
Zion. Sadat said of the Nazis and his own political circle in Egypt that “We
acted in complete harmony.” 14 Once Rommel crossed the Suez, Arabs, with
German guidance, would have instituted the Nazi solution to the Jewish
Problem in Palestine.
In 1936, David Ben Gurion predicted “the greatest catastrophe the
world has ever experienced,” stating that Hitler and Arab supporters would
invade the Middle East and destroy all Jews. In 1942, it looked like this was
right on schedule: 15,000 Jews left Egypt for Jerusalem; Rommel was
advancing with the Einsatzkommando, and plenty of willing Arab henchmen,
behind him. The Haganah and the Irgun debated strategy. Jews from
Palestine were ready to join the British military. The Palmach was formed
to perform commando missions. A Jewish fighting force was maturing.
There were plans for a mass evacuation should Rommel succeed in reaching
Palestine. But evacuate to where? The reality was that the Jewish community
in Palestine would have been annihilated.
Alas for Hitler, his decision to put most of his resources in the Eastern
Front foiled his plans for conquering the Middle East. The battles at El
Alamein and the Nazi invasion from the Caucuses began to fail. The intelligence
advantage switched to the British side. Supplies became scarce for
the Axis powers. The Nazi plan was to converge on the Arab region from
the east and west. Rommel’s losses at Alamein ended the hopes to crush the
Jews and the British in the Arab world. Walter Rauff and his Einsatzgruppen
were sent back to Europe.
Before Rauff returned to Europe, he inflicted a reign of terror in Tunisia.
He enforced a labor program on Jews for months and robbed them of
14. Mallmann and Cüppers, Nazi Palestine, 96.