On the Anti-Zionist Crusades’ Crusade

Reading Emma Kellman’s 2014 paper, Politicized Historiography and the Zionist- Crusader Analogy, one may assume, mistakenly, that the attempt of Arab propagandists and their Jewish supporters to apply an anology, that Zionism is like the Crusades and will be ended as a foreign colonialist phenomenon, are from the post-1967 period and relate only to the territories Israel assumed administration over as a result of the Six Days War.

It is not that she doesn’t provide evidence otherwise but you might miss the brief mentions.

So here are three.

In his book, The Origins of Israeli Mythology: Neither Canaanites Nor Crusaders, David Ohana notes two pre-state sources for the Arab comparison of Zionism with the fate of the Crusaders.

The first is from the introduction of Said Ali el-Hariri`s Arabic “El-Ahbar el-Sniyeh Pi el-Harub el-Tzliviyeh” (The Cautionary Tale of the Crusader Wars), Cairo 1899, p. 6 when he observes that the aggressiveness of the European rulers toward the Ottoman rulers 

“bears an amazing resemblance to the actions of the crusaders in the past.” 

A second is just prior to the 1948 War of Independence, in a book published in Damascus, Vadia Talhok, “Al-Tslivia al-Jedira Pi Falestin” (The New Crusaders in Palestine), Damascus 1948 which contains a comparison of the Christian colonialism of the Middle Ages with the Anglo-French and Zionist colonialism. His conclusion is that 

“we shall cleanse Palestine of the star of David just as we cleansed it of the crusades.” 

Eli Kavon notes a third instance:

In September 1947, Jewish officials pleaded with the leaders of the Arab League to make peace with the emerging State of Israel. The League rebuffed the offer, claiming the Arabs would eject the Jews of Palestine as the Muslims had thrown the Crusaders out of the Middle East centuries before.

In fact, Ohana references several Israeli scholars debating the relevancy of the comparison in the 1950s. He also quotes from a 1955 interview with Arnold Toynbee with Uri Avneri which appeared under the title “Don’t Repeat the Mistakes of the Philistines and the Crusaders.” Toynbee had considered Zionism as a modern form of colonialism. He requested Israelis not to rely of rifles and bayonets and noted: 

“You have to learn the history of the country and even that of the crusaders, for example, for it belongs to you.” 

So, the imagery is old and it applies to Israel in any geographical configuration.

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Finally, Jerusalem in Arabic

This just came into my mailbox:

A Unique Archaeological Discovery – a Crusader Inscription in Arabic, found in Tel Aviv, which bears the name of Frederick II, “King of Jerusalem”

This is the only Crusader inscription in the Arabic language ever found in the Middle East...that bears the name of the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, and the date “1229 of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus the Messiah”.

It was recently deciphered by Professor Moshe Sharon and Ami Shrager of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem found on an...800-years-old inscription [] fixed years ago in the wall of a building in Tel Aviv...Frederick II led the Sixth Crusade of 1228-1229 and succeeded, without resorting to arms, in achieving major territorial gains for the Crusader Kingdom. His most important feat was the handing over of Jerusalem to the Crusaders by the Egyptian sultan al-Malik al-Kamil as a result of an armistice agreement the two rulers signed in 1229...The Arabic inscription was drafted by Frederick’s officials, or possibly even the emperor himself...The unique Arabic inscription is almost completely intact. It lists all of the titles of Frederick II, and as already stated, has no counterpart elsewhere. In Sicily, where Frederick’s main royal palace was located, no Arabic inscription of his has been found to this date.. Furthermore, until now this is the only Crusader inscription in the Arabic language ever found in the Middle East.

The "only"?  The "sole"?

Does that mean, by the crooked thinking that goes on 'on the other side', that until that was found and deciphered, we could claim there were no Arabs here working for or against or with the Crusaders?  Simply because there was no documentary evidence until now?

Or that Jerusalem was an unknown?


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