The Consequences of the North African Campaign |
El
Alamein
El Alamein is a small town in the
Egyptian desert. It was there that on October 23-24, 1942, a decisive battle
between a German army and a British army led to the defeat of the Germans under
the command of General Erwin Rommel, who had won so many battles in North Africa
that the media called him “the desert fox.” The British were commanded by
General Sir Bernard Montgomery, the third commander of the British forces in
Africa. Both of his predecessors had lost to Rommel, but Montgomery understood
Rommel’s “Blitzkrieg” methods, and using defensive tactics, prevented the
Germans from entering Egypt and going on to Israel with the intent of killing
the entire Jewish population there. During the months from September
1939 until the end of the Second World War in 1945, the Germans always sent so
called “Einsatzgruppen” into all countries they had occupied. These
“Einsatzgruppen” (dedicated units) were dedicated to killing all the Jews in
the country they had occupied. It was therefore intended that the
Germans, on capturing Israel, which then consisted of both sides of the Jordan
River, would be followed by Arab units to kill all Jews. Arab units were
available to do the killing because the British “High Commissioner” who was
governing Israel was Herbert Samuel, a Jew, who had appointed Amin El Husseini
Mufti of Jerusalem. The British Army under General
Allenby had defeated the Turks, who had governed Israel since 1453. Turkey was
allied with Germany during the First World War. The German plan was to defeat the
British army, capture Cairo, and then enter Israel by way of the Sinai desert.
Husseini was appointed to organize German style death camps in which to gas the
entire Jewish community in Israel. Amin el Husseini, a malicious
hater of Jews, had moved to Berlin during the Second World War, where he met
Hitler. He told Hitler to kill all Jews “wherever you can find them.” El
Husseini also met with Adolf Eichmann, the organizer of deportations which sent
all European Jews to the east European gas chambers. He urged Eichmann to kill
more Jews and studied with Eichmann how to build death camps in Israel. El
Husseini also met with the head of the Schutzstaffel, or SS, who ran all the
death camps, in order to learn how to organize the camps and kill large numbers
of Jews each day. If the Germans had won the battle
of El Alamein, Israel would never have come into existence. Therefore that
battle was very important in Jewish history, particularly since numerous
Israelis fought with the British. When the Germans lost the Second
World War in 1945, a large number of German
Nazis moved to Egypt or South
America. These killers were often aided by the Roman Catholic church, which
furnished them with fake passports and money. Those who moved to Egypt became
advisors to Gamal Abdel Nasser, an Egyptian officer, who overthrew the king of
Egypt and made himself dictator. Husseini also moved to Egypt,
where he continued his efforts to kill Jews by encouraging the Egyptians to use
their Russian made planes, tanks, and guns in an all out assault on Israel. For
some time in 1966 and 1967, the Egyptians, in alliance with Syria and so called
Jordan (i.e. eastern Israel) were broadcasting Hebrew messages into Israel
promising a bloodbath of Jews to be slaughtered Nazi style, as Syria and Jordan
were ready to participate in the mass murder. Because the world had become
accustomed to seeing Jews as defensless victims, it was assumed by the media
that they would shortly see huge piles of Jewish corpses in the streets of
Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. As all the world knows today, the
Israelis, under the command of Moshe Dayan, wiped out the Egyptian Air Force in
a few hours on June 5, 1967, and then continued
to defeat a far greater Egyptian army as well as the Syrians, Jordanians ,
Lebanese, Saudis, and others seeking to enrich themselves on the property of the
Jews they intended to murder. The so called “Six Day War” was followed by the Yom Kippur War, with similar results, so that, with the aid of President Trump, several Arab states have now recognized Israel. This wonderful development rests on the Battle of El Alamein and on the help of “Shem Yisborach,” whose Torah prophets have promised mankind that those who bless Israel will be blessed. Thus, Israel and the Jewish people have survived again and again, for we are an eternal people which no human effort can destroy. That is the great lesson of El Alamein and the battle which shall never be forgotten. Shalom u'vracha. Dr. Gerhard Falk is the author of numerous publications, including The American Jewish Community in the 20th and 21st Century (2021). |