Jeffrey Herf's thesis is probably not true

Submitted by PPS (United States), Apr 16, 2010 at 00:41

Dear Dr Pipes,

It is likely and possible that Nazis might have tried to win Islamists as friends by condemning the Jews before and during the second world war but establishing a causative link between the Nazi propaganda and current-day Islamism appears to be farfetched for many reasons. First, if Islamists's thinking could be swayed by propaganda, half of our problems can be solved. Nazi propaganda is unlikely to have changed any minds in the middle east. Second, Islamists are not in very brotherly terms with almost anyone that they share a border with, propaganda or no propaganda. It is not a surprise that there is no peace in the current-day Israel.

If every Jew in Israel is magically replaced by a buddhist, nothing much will change as far as peace in Israel is concerned. Third, as another reader pointed out, the Nazi propaganda was probably for economic and political gains and not ideological. Finally, the objectionable islamist tendencies predate Nazism.

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