Quote Originally Posted by MikeF
Originally, I stated the Arabs were influenced (not controlled) by Nazi Socialism. Possibly, they used it as a counter to their British/French occupiers.
Influenced. Somewhat. Not decisively. The Nazi program was one of expansionism and colonialism (in Europe) -- Arab nationalism sought to remove the yoke of colonialism. And yes, they did use nationalism as an counter-instrument to British and French imperialism. The same way the Vietnamese used communism in Indochina and the Afghans and Pakistanis used religious instruction to resist the expansion of Soviet communism. The National Socialist program did not develop into an Arab 'model' -- the Arab nationalists pursued a relationship with the Germans for very basic and ancient political reasons: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And the Germans found it to their benefit to pursue relations with a people who no longer desired to be ruled by the persistent and old enemy of aspiring continental powers.

On the one hand, Wilf claims that the creation of Israel as a catalyst for Arab hostility is "utter rubbish", but on the other, he claims that the most powerful and ruthless anti-semitic ideology informed the Arab program and that a "very substantial proportion [of Arabs] have centuries of enmity and hatred towards Jews". If Arab nationalism is founded on anti-semitic ideology (which is really the only relevance in arguing of some existential relationship between Arab nationalism and Nazism), and Arabs have some centuries-spanning disgust with Jewish people, how is the creation of a Jewish homeland in the middle of the Arab population NOT a "primary source" of discontent?