Netanyahu causes uproar by linking Palestinians to Holocaust

JERUSALEM - The Associated Press

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses international Jewish leaders during the 37th Zionist congress in Jerusalem on October 20, 2015. AFP PHOTO / MENAHEM KAHANA

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under fire for suggesting that a World War II-era Palestinian leader convinced the Nazis to adopt their Final Solution to exterminate European Jews.
     
Holocaust experts are slamming Netanyahu's comments as historically inaccurate. Critics are saying on Oct. 21 the statement amounts to incitement against modern-day Palestinians in the midst of a wave of violent unrest and Israeli-Palestinian tensions.
     
Netanyahu told a group of Jewish leaders on Oct. 20 that the Mufti of Jerusalem, Nazi sympathizer Haj Amin al-Husseini, convinced Hitler to destroy the Jews.
     
"Hitler didn't want to exterminate the Jews at the time, he wanted to expel the Jews," Netanyahu said. When Hitler asked al-Husseini what to do, Netanyahu said he replied: "Burn them."