The Palestinians of Al Wahdat

By Tuvia Tenenbom
"Germans," Ali explains, "have the ability to bear many misfortunes and carry many disappointments inside their hearts, because they have patience. For years they suffered from the Jews, but when the opportunity came to pay the Jews back, the Germans killed them." Did the Jews deserve it? "Germany killed one million Jews," Ali informs me, "and they did good." All in presence agree.
But Tobias of Germany, attempting to fully comprehend this last statement, gets a little curious. "If a stranger walked into your home carrying no passport, would you be able to tell if he's a Jew or a German?" I ask him.
Most probably, this is the most stupid question I could have come up with. Ali is pretty disappointed in me as well. How could I offend his intelligence with such a tasteless question? Of course he would know who the stranger was! And then Ali stops talking for a few minutes. He measures me, my head and my eyes, and seems to conclude that I need some basic teachings. "If we are good Muslims," he speaks again, "and keep the Word of Allah, Palestine will be ours again. Look at Nasrallah of Lebanon: He abides by Allah, and Allah helps him to kill the Jews. May all of us be like Nasrallah. The Jews falsified the Word of Allah in their Torah. The Christians falsified the Word of Allah in the New Testament. But there's one man who possesses the First Book of Allah and he knows the Truth. Do you know who he is?" No, I don't. "The Pope!" The German Pope? "Yes, that one." Blessing on your head, Papa Benedict, the people of Al Wahdat love you. "What book, exactly, does the Pope have?" I ask. "The real Word of Allah, the original!, is hidden in the basement of the Vatican," Ali proclaims. Has Ali Mohammad Ali seen that book? "I have a copy of it, it's the Quran." Ali proceeds to read the Quran for me. He opens the book and says: "The Jews will all be killed. Every tree and every stone will join in the killing of the Jews." Ali's son, sitting on my right, takes a piece of paper and writes down some anti-Jewish curses on it, "Holy Words."
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