Itamar Marcus
| Jan 29, 2021 For most people, Holocaust memorial events such as those that recently took place to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day are crucial both to remember the victims and to ensure that the horror of Nazism can never again raise its head. In the Palestinian Authority (PA), Holocaust remembrance is a very different story. This week, Palestinians tuning in to official PA TV were told that the Jews brought the Holocaust upon themselves — that it was Europe’s way of punishing the Jews for their “conspiracies and wickedness.” The claim was made on the program “From the Israeli Archive,” which is currently airing parts of an Israeli documentary series from 1981, “Pillar of Fire,” misinterpreting — and even mistranslating — the original narration so it presents a Palestinian and even antisemitic perspective. The above statement was the host’s introduction to a segment from an episode about the 1930s and Nazism’s rise to power.