Arab Reactions To The Eichmann Trial

Reactions To The Eichmann Trial

Israel was condemned repeatedly in the Arab press for violating international law by abducting Eichmann. Still more frequent were expressions of sympathy with him, and even statements that his example should be followed. There were, indeed, some condemnations of Eichmann, but they cannot outweigh these expressions of sympathy.

In the Lebanese paper al-Anwār of June 9, 1960, there was a caricature showing Ben-Gurion and Eichmann shouting at each other. The text below the drawing is as follows: Ben-Gurion: "You deserve the death penalty for killing six million Jews."

Eichmann: "There are many who argue that I deserve the death penalty for not finishing the job."

The Jordanian English language daily, Jerusalem Times, published the following "Open Letter to Eichmann" on April 24, 1961:  Dear Eichmann, 

I address you in your glass cell to extend a word of sympathy in your present plight. German genius that has invented Sputniks and missiles and all sorts of things has failed to inspire you to avert the disaster that has befallen you. 

What a pity Eichmann that you allowed those swine[sic] to arrest you and stage their drama. But don't worry Eichmann it will in the end fall on their heads. 

Listen Eichmann you are accused of decimating six million of this breed. Whether this is correct or not it is not our object to debate this issue but what we like to say is this if you actually managed to liquidate six million of them and if the remaining six million have been instrumental in .. on the Arabs .. we wonder what would have been the result if the decimated six million would have been allowed to survive. 

It is likely that a similar drama would have been staged in another part of the Arab countries. So that by liquidating six millions you have minimized the extent of the calamity and conferred a real blessing on humanity you can imagine dear Eichmann the feelings of the million or so of Arab refugees at this drama.

The object of this trial is simply to attract more tourists to the occupied section and to exploit it for fund raising and for skinning the rest of mankind. 

But be brave Eichmann find solace in the fact that this trial will one day culminate in the liquidation of the remaining six million to avenge your blood and the manner in which you have been kidnapped and brought to trial by the very same people who ...from their homes."

[Abdallah al-] Tall writes of Eichmann as one "who fell in the Holy War" (shahid): "We have not forgotten the abduction of the martyr Eichmann, whom the Jewish gangs brought over from Argentina to the gangster ... to be brandished over the head of anyone in the West who might dare to deviate from the line laid down by criminal World Jewry." (p. 282).

Ali Muhammed Ali, in his book Inside Israel (Policy Books series), describes the Eichmann trial as a show: "In outward appearance it was a tragedy, but in its essence it was a vile comedy..."

... How far goes the murderousness of the Arabs has been shown by the daily newspaper "Al Akbar" from Damascus. On the 8th of March, it has been put there such an horrific piece: "If I could taste the blood of every Zionist in the world, I would not hesitate for a moment to do it. Because the Zionists are interested (sic) in drinking the blood (sic. al-Akhbar) of all Arabs and Muslims. To his great honor, it is said about Eichmann that he is the greatest blood purifier (sic) of all time. And let's quote here the words of an Arab poet, Nasib-ar-Rifai, who said: 'If Hitler failed to exterminate you - God saved us'. And this means that Allah has allowed us to live in order to eliminate the Jews and the Zionists. We will remove from the Holy Land the (sic. Al-Akhbar) meanest of all nations."

"Ad-Difaa", a daily Jordanian newspaper, wrote on April 13th: "We do not deny that the Nazis committed many mistakes... But why should Eichmann be judged for his part in having purged Europe from the plague (sic) whose name is (sic. Al-Difaa) the Jews?"

With the opening of the trial of Adolf Eichmann, in Israel, Arab papers made the following points, among others:

Al-Gumhuriyah (Cairo): 'The world wonders about the views of the Arabs on the Eichmann case... Our belief is that had it not been for the legend of Nazi persecution of the Jews, Israel would not have existed.'

Al-Jihad (Jordan): In the person of Eichmann the Jews are not trying Nazi Germany alone, but also the Christian world. They will try Eichmann on the soil which they usurped 13 years ago with their own crimes.

If the Jewish authorities have the right to try Eichmann, the Arabs have more right to try Ben-Gurion and his gang... (V of A, April 11 [13])

The Arab press sent Eichmann such messages of encouragement as this in the Jerusalem Times (Jordan) of April 24, 1961: "Find consolation in the fact that this trial will one day lead to the liquidation of the remaining six million."

On the other hand, The Recorder of Aden, May 14 , 1961, claimed that all the figures of the holocaust were forged and the extermination story was all a lie[sic].

After the Mufti episode the trial proceeded to the subject of the death camps, which took up four days, eight sessions.

Since these were the places where the millions were actually exterminated , I found it imperative to bring out the story in some detail.

Here, too, each witness was asked to describe only a small fraction of the reality in each of the five camps on which evidence was introduced. But the reality was not real any more. It seemed that the courtroom itself was now engulfed in the poisonous vapors of the crematoria. At times I could almost smell the lethal gases and the stench of burnt flesh. As the witnesses tonelessly gave their testimony, we relived the nightmare with them. We moved as if in a trance; I doubt whether we were fully cognizant of all that was going on around us in those few days. When we stepped out of the court building, it seemed strange that the sun was shining, the air was pure, and people were going about their usual business. Inside was the image of a man-made hell.

Two witnesses testified in camera on the sterilization operations performed on their bodies in Auschwitz . These were "the practical experiments" with which Eichmann was kept "in close touch" as part of the over-all sterilization schemes discussed at the post-Wannsee conferences.

At one point I myself became in a sense a witness at ...

April 29. ... working for me, and I am copying some opinions from Israel's enemies about the Eichmann trial..

In the Egyptian weekly Akher Sa'a, Mohamed al-Tabi'I writes about "the disgusting historical lie[sic], spread by the American press, that the Nazis killed six million European Jews. The trial against Nazi officer Adolf Eichmann is based on this lie.[sic]."

The magazine Al-Difaa explains why Eichmann is in a glass cage. This is not to protect him from bullets, but to enable them to turn off the microphone, should he start saying things the Zionists do not like.

... the first person to accuse Israel of being an apartheid state was Ahmad Shukeiri, a U.N. diplomat, in 1961 in the context of the Eichmann trial. Grossman remembers that Shukeiri was the founder of the PLO, and served as head of the group prior to Yasser Arafat. Shukeiri was also a fervent supporter of the Nazis. Shukeiri is what links the Arabs' support for the Nazis and the use of the terms "Nazis" and "apartheid" against Jews, who were victims of the Nazis.