320 · Yehudit Ronen
in particular, in Libya and the broader Arab Muslim world, as well as
among radical right-wing movements in Europe and the United States.
Furthermore, Arab and Muslim circles have taken Nazi symbols, termi-
nology, and ideology and projected them onto Zionism and the state of
Israel, attempting thereby to portray the Jews and the Israelis as having
metamorphosed from victims to victimizers. This perception has gained
further credence during the last two decades, which have witnessed vio-
lent confrontations between Israel and the Palestinians in the form of
the two bloody eruptions of intifada. Moreover, the Palestinians, whom
Libya has consistently supported, view the Holocaust within the context
of the general Arab struggle against Zionism and of the Palestinian 1948
“naqba” (catastrophe).^35
Despite Saif al-Islam’s extraordinary declaration concerning the Ho-
locaust, there was a total absence of public debate or official reaction in
Libya on the topic in the aftermath of his statement. Saif al-Islam’s voice
remained a lone opinion within his country’s top echelons, and even this
remained a onetime event. Either Qadhafi was ideologically and emo-
tionally not ready to adopt such a position, or he feared serious political
repercussions from the various ruling circles, particularly from the Revo-
lutionary Committees, should he back his son’s statement or even allow
him to repeat it. Nevertheless, Saif al-Islam was not alone. Since the mid-
1990s, a new trend has become discernible among Arab intellectuals who
have begun calling for a new approach to the Holocaust, acknowledging
the Nazi atrocity as a crime against humanity, while separating its human
aspects from the discussion of the Holocaust’s political repercussions.
What motivated Saif al-Islam’s public recognition of the Holocaust
remains unknown. On the one hand, it is possible that it was Tripoli’s
way of testing the waters of both internal and international reaction to
a potentially more moderate official line regarding a broader change of
attitude toward Jews and the state of Israel. Alternatively, it could sim-
ply be Saif al-Islam’s personal opinion, unrelated to any formal shift in
Libyan policy, and consequently it was his self-confidence in being able
to freely express his views that allowed him to voice such an idea. In ei-
ther case, his declared recognition of the Holocaust has become especially
prominent when placed in the context of Muslim and Arab Holocaust
deniers who have portrayed it as a “myth,”^36 while denouncing “Jewish
Nazism” against “Muslim Arab victims.”^37
Later in 2005, Saif al-Islam proved again that he did not harbor the