Rudy Giuliani Slams Rashida Tlaib's Claim Her Palestinian Ancestors Were 'Kind' to Jews: 'The Grand Mufti Was a Close Ally of Hitler. He Murdered Jews'

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Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani arrives to campaign for Republican Senate hopeful Mike Braun on November 3, 2018 in Franklin Township, Indiana. Braun is locked in a tight race with incumbent Democrat Sen.... Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images

Remarks made by freshman congresswoman Rashida Tlaib about the Holocaust have continued to draw ire from Republicans despite her attempts to place the comments in context on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

President Donald Trump's attorney, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, entered the fray Monday to criticize the Michigan congresswoman's statements, contradicting her claims that her Palestinian ancestors had suffered to give Jews a homeland in Israel.

"Rep. Tlaib's fond memories of how kind her ancestors were to the Jewish ignores the historical fact that during WWII the leader of her people, the Grand Mufti, was a close ally of Hitler. He murdered Jews. He did everything he could to destroy a Jewish homeland," Giuliani wrote on Twitter late Monday.

Tlaib has faced days of backlash following remarks she made on Saturday. Speaking to Yahoo News' Skullduggery podcast, Tlaib said she was "humbled by the fact that it was my ancestors that had to suffer" to create the state of Israel. As a result, she said, "there's a kind of a calming feeling, I always tell folks, when I think of the Holocaust."

In a Twitter broadside the president commented that Tlaib "obviously has tremendous hatred of Israel and the Jewish people," over her comment that the Holocaust gave her a "calming feeling."

Speaking on Late Night, Tlaib reiterated that her statements had been taken out of context. "The reason why Israel was created was to create a safe haven for Jews around the world and there is something, in many ways, beautiful about that; my ancestors—many had died or had to give up their livelihood, their human dignity to provide a safe haven for Jews in our world," the congresswoman said.

Before the issue could be put to bed, Giuliani deployed the history of a 1941 meeting between Adolf Hitler and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, before the founding of the state of Israel. Transcripts of the meeting have now been published, and it is clear the Mufti saw an ally in Hitler, as the Nazi leader looked poised to win World War II.

The Mufti said the Nazis and the Arabs had common enemies in "the English, the Jews, and the Communists." The religious leader also also asked Hitler to publicly state Germany would pursue the elimination of a Jewish homeland.

However, the role Husseini played in influencing Hitler, particularly with regard to the Holocaust has been overstated.

In 2015 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu incorrectly claimed the grand mufti had provided the inspiration for the murder of 6 million European Jews in the holocaust. In the aftermath Germany was forced to clarify the decision to pursue the genocidal policy had originated from Berlin.

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About the writer


Callum Paton  is a staff writer at Newsweek specializing in North Africa and the Middle East. He has worked freelance ... Read more

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