Clear Eyewitness Testimony vs. Wikipedia Promoted Israel Gershoni’s Sanitized Narrative

Clear Eyewitness Testimony vs. Wikipedia Promoted Israel Gershoni’s Sanitized Narrative

Arab Support for Nazi Germany in Mandatory Palestine During WWII

The following relies on the firsthand oral testimony recorded in: Arbel, T. The Story of Muhammad Abu Sarari (Hebrew). Ra’anana: Docostory, 2000. *

Snippet from a book translated into English:

Page 13:

From the events of '36, I have a childhood memory. Then the gangs were active and terrorized the Jews. The one who organized them was Hassan Salama. The gang members wanted to cause harm to the Jews who bought agricultural goods from the Arabs. They would lie in wait in the wadis and on the roads for Arab merchants who smuggled vegetables and fruit to the Hatikva market. If they caught the smugglers, they would beat them, throw their goods at them, and the poor people would return home without the money and without the goods. The ones who benefited from all this were us children. We collected everything that was left in the field and brought it home. I still remember from that time, every day at 9:30 a.m. someone would come with a bicycle and bring newspapers from Egypt. He would also come to Beit Dagon and sell newspapers. I was six years old, but I couldn't read. My brother would read and I would hear what was happening in the world, but I didn't always understand these politics. Even though I didn't go to school, I was always curious and I loved to learn.

Of all the brothers, I was the closest to my father. He would take me everywhere, even to pray. I learned a lot from that, because I saw a lot. There would be 50-100 people praying in the mosque. I remember the imam delivering sermons and praying for the victory of Abu Ali. Abu Ali is Hitler. So that the English, who ruled the country at the time and were Hitler's opponents, would not understand who they were talking about, the Arabs called Hitler: Abu Ali. The Arabs were very afraid that they would be heard speaking admiringly about Hitler, in mosques and cafes, and would accuse them of collaborating with the Germans.

And that is what happened to our imam. Shortly after his sermon in favor of Hitler, the British arrested him and imprisoned him without trial.

At that time, incitement and attacks on Jews began. The Mufti, Hajj Amin al-Husseini, who was one of the leaders of the instigators against the Jews, was arrested by the British.

Page 19:

I saved myself half a penny a week to buy myself a horse drink, a wonderful drink made from brown grasses that grow in the wadi. It was very tasty, today it is only available in Gaza. Games? Mischief? I had no time to play with children. You could say that I had no childhood, no cinema, no entertainment, nothing.

I worked in this cafe for two years, and I only had two days off.

During the war, the British prevented the Arabs in the country from listening to Berlin radio. When the British discovered that they were listening to this radio, they would close the cafe for three months. But in the cafe where I worked, they listened to Berlin radio, and I, the little one, looked out for the British police.

Hassan Abu-Havila, the owner of the cafe, asked me to sit outside, in the dark, to warn them if the police came, who would patrol the street every evening.

Two Arab policemen and an English policeman. (In the Jewish towns, two Jewish policemen and an English policeman used to go around.) The Arabs listened to Radio Berlin, because they thought that only it spoke the truth. They were sure that what the Americans were saying was a lie. Most Arabs in Israel were in favor of Nazi Germany. The Arabs also listened to Radio Turkey. There was no prohibition on that, even though Turkey was with the Germans. The policemen were locked in shoes with irons in the soles, and so I could hear them coming from afar.

Muhammad Abu Sarari’s childhood recollections from a village near Jaffa provide an unvarnished picture of Arab political sentiment during the late 1930s and World War II. His account sharply contradicts the polished academic narrative offered by Israel Gershoni, who claims that Palestinian Arab opinion had largely shifted toward the Allies by 1943.

Testimony: Violence Against Jews Was Organized and Routine

Abu Sarari describes how, during the 1936–1939 Arab Revolt, gangs led by figures such as Hassan Salama targeted Jewish civilians and even Arab farmers who sold produce to the Yishuv. Arab merchants cooperating with Jews were beaten and robbed. This fits the broader pattern of the revolt: anti-Jewish violence intertwined with internal terror against Arabs who sought coexistence.

Testimony: Open Mosque Prayers for Hitler’s Victory

One of the most striking accounts is the mosque’s prayer for Hitler— referred to as “Abu Ali” to evade British detection. The imam’s pro-Hitler sermon led to his imprisonment. This is explicit religious support for Nazi Germany, not ambiguity or rumor, and reflects sentiments heard directly by the young Abu Sarari.

Testimony: Widespread, Clandestine Listening to Nazi Radio

Abu Sarari depicts wartime Palestine as a society where Radio Berlin was secretly consumed despite harsh British penalties:

• Cafés tuned in to Nazi broadcasts behind closed doors.
• Child lookouts (including Abu Sarari) warned of approaching patrols.
• British authorities closed cafés for three months if caught.
• He reports that “most Arabs in the country were in favor of Nazi Germany.”

This is testimony of widespread, meaningful sympathy for the Nazi regime, suppressed only because of British monitoring.

Why This Testimony Undermines Gershoni’s Claims

Gershoni heavily cites a 1943 British intelligence survey indicating that Arabs preferred the BBC Arabic Service over Radio Berlin. But such a poll, taken under conditions where admitting pro-German views risked arrest or economic ruin, cannot be considered reliable.

When listening to Radio Berlin was illegal and punishable, the results of a British-administered poll reflect self-censorship, not authentic public opinion. Abu Sarari’s testimony exposes the coercive context ignored in Gershoni’s reconstruction.

Gershoni admits that the newspapers were controlled by the British authorities during the war. But he failed to mention that radio Axis was banned.

Why the Testimony Matters for Jewish Historical Context

For the Jews of Mandatory Palestine, this testimony confirms a grim reality:

• While European Jewry faced annihilation, many local Arabs openly rooted for Hitler.
• Prayers in mosques praised Nazi victory.
• Nazi propaganda was circulated and eagerly consumed despite the risks.
• Hostility toward Jews in the land preceded 1948 by many years.

Abu Sarari’s account strengthens longstanding Jewish testimonies about the depth of pro-Nazi sentiment among segments of the Arab population and leadership, including figures like Haj Amin al-Husseini.

Conclusion

The recollections of a young café worker—listening for the clack of British police boots while adults tuned in to Nazi broadcasts—offer an authenticity unmatched by any sanitized wartime poll. His testimony reveals that many Palestinian Arabs continued to admire Nazi Germany and pray for its victory well into the war, directly contradicting the narrative that the Arab public had abandoned the Axis by 1943.

In short, the lived reality exposes the gap between historical testimony and modern revisionist portrayals.