Al Jazeera | 22 Oct 2015

Why is Netanyahu trying to rewrite history?

By Inside Story

It’s not often you hear an Israeli prime minister being described as a denier of the Holocaust.

That’s exactly the accusation being levelled at Benjamin Netanyahu. He says it was the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem – a Palestinian religious leader – who gave Hitler the idea of wiping out the Jews during World War Two.

Israeli historians and opposition politicians are outraged.

Angela Merkel responded by insisting the Holocaust was very much Germany’s responsibility.

So is Netanyahu trying to rewrite history – and why? And how dangerous is the inflammatory rhetoric on both sides?