JERUSALEM, Israel -- Palestinian residents of the Arab village of Beit Omar on the outskirts of Hebron hoisted the Nazi flag once again, this time higher than they did last May.
In fact it was hoisted so high Israeli soldiers had a hard time taking it down, Arutz Sheva reported over the weekend.
Ironically, the incident took place just weeks after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at Bar-Ilan University, recounting the very close connection between Haj Amin al-Husseini, the grand mufti of Jerusalem during the British Mandate, and Adolph Hitler.
"On November 28, 1941, the mufti flew to Berlin and met with Hitler," Netanyahu explained. "He expressed to Hitler his readiness to cooperate with Germany in any way. And he did so -- both by recruiting Muslim fighters to join the ranks of the S.S. in the Balkans and by broadcasting propaganda for the Nazis."
Al-Husseini was rabidly anti-Semitic, making the Nazis his natural allies. Netanyahu says that same spirit exists today.
"The mufti is still an admired figure in the Palestinian national movement. Go look at websites, go to schools, look at schoolbooks," he said.
"This is the tumor that must be removed; this is the root of the conflict; this is what keeps it alive and the root of the conflict was and remains that which has been repeated for over 90 years -- the profound objection by the hard core of Palestinians to the right of the Jewish people to its own country in the Land of Israel," he said.
Some say that same spirit appears to prevail among residents of Beit Omar, who seem to want Israelis driving on Highway 60 -- the route of the biblical patriarchs -- to take notice of the Nazi flag waving over their homes.