The sound of the violin awakens the soul; its cry mirrors the suffering of the Jewish people, and yet it also gives us hope. Much like Hatikva, Israel’s National Anthem, its emotional qualities resonate throughout centuries of suffering that the Jewish neshama (soul) has endured, yearning to return home, to Israel and the hope of our redemption.

A Re-Discovery of the SS-Leader’s Anti-Balfour Cable to the Grand Mufti

In April the National Israeli Library blogged Himmler’s re-discovered telegram to the grand mufti of Jerusalem Amin al-Husaini. Contrary to the comment there that Nazi Germany did not declare its help for the Arab independence, I argue, it did. This cable further recognized the movement of the Mufti, who lived from 1941 to 1945 in Berlin. He realized with the Axis powers his main goals against the Jews and Allies, also in the Mideast. The thesis that his only success was preventing “a few cases of Jews departing Europe for Palestine” denies his own admissions and ideological roles. He described the fate of Jews who were forced to remain in Europe after his protests, especially of Hungarian Jews. I will shed historical light on this cable.