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| The late Barry Rubin and wife Judith Colp Rubin |
Thursday, December 25, 2014
Make Your Tax-Deductible Donation to Continue Barry Rubin's Work Before the End of the Year
As the one-year anniversary of the death of my husband, Professor Barry Rubin, approaches, I am reaching out to you, his loyal readers, to help continue his important work.
Barry was one of the most prolific Middle East scholars of our time. He believed strongly in fighting for the security of America and Israel and worked tirelessly for this cause, literally up to his death. Even while hooked up to an IV dispensing chemo, Barry was dictating his famous Rubin Report to his assistant. He also finished three books, which were published posthumously: Nazis, Islamists, and the Making of the Modern Middle East (Yale, 2014, co-authored with Wolfgang G. Schwanitz), Silent Revolution: How the Left Rose to Political Power and Cultural Dominance (Harper Collins, 2014), and The Military History of the Modern Middle East (Routledge, 2015).
I know Barry would be proud as to how GLORIA, the research institute he founded at the Interdisciplinary Center and which I always referred to as the “other woman in his life,” continues to thrive.
The Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center is now under the directorship of Dr. Jonathan Spyer--Barry’s longtime deputy and hand-picked successor--who has reported from across the region, including several trips to war-torn Syria. Dr. Spyer is recognized as one of the world’s leading Middle East analysts, appearing on and writing for major media outlets as well as doing speaking events worldwide.
The Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA), which Barry pioneered in 1997 as the first online Middle East journal, maintains its high level of scholarship, with a circulation of over 25,000. In addition, GLORIA continues to publish Turkish Studies, founded by Barry and listed in the prestigious Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). Thirteen of Barry’s books are available now for free on the GLORIA website, including The Arab States and the Palestine Conflict, The Truth About Syria, and more.
In addition to these projects, Barry’s longtime dream of helping develop the next generation of Middle East scholars has become a reality. In October, Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi became the first recipient of the Rubin Fellowship. Al-Tamimi has already emerged as one of the world’s leading experts on the Islamic State (IS), recently testifying before the British parliament on the subject.
As Barry’s widow and co-author, I ask for your help in ensuring the GLORIA Center continues these ongoing activities. Funds are especially needed to expand the Rubin Fellowship. Please consider making a donation in Barry’s memory and for the values for which he dedicated his life. Click here to make your tax-deductible donation before the end of the year from the United States, the UK, or Israel.
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Help GLORIA to Continue Prof. Barry Rubin’s Work
![]() |
| The late Barry Rubin and wife Judith Colp Rubin |
As the one-year
anniversary of the death of my husband, Professor Barry Rubin, approaches, I am
reaching out to you, his loyal readers, to help continue his important work.
Barry was one of the most
prolific Middle East scholars of our time. He believed strongly in fighting for
the security of America and Israel and worked tirelessly for this cause,
literally up to his death. Even while hooked up to an IV dispensing chemo,
Barry was dictating his famous Rubin Report to his assistant. He also finished
three books, which were published posthumously: Nazis,
Islamists, and the Making of the Modern Middle East (Yale, 2014, co-authored with Wolfgang G. Schwanitz), Silent
Revolution: How the Left Rose to Political Power and Cultural Dominance (Harper Collins, 2014), and The
Military History of the Modern Middle East (Routledge,
2015).
I know Barry would be
proud as to how GLORIA, the research institute he founded at the
Interdisciplinary Center and which I always referred to as the “other woman in
his life,” continues to thrive.
The Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center is now under the
directorship of Dr. Jonathan Spyer--Barry’s longtime deputy and hand-picked
successor--who has reported from across the region, including several trips to war-torn
Syria. Dr. Spyer is recognized as one of the world’s leading Middle East analysts,
appearing on and writing for major media outlets as well as doing speaking
events worldwide.
The Middle
East Review of International Affairs (MERIA),
which Barry pioneered in 1997 as the first online Middle East journal, maintains
its high level of scholarship, with a circulation of
over 25,000. In addition, GLORIA continues to publish Turkish Studies,
founded by Barry and listed in the prestigious Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). Thirteen
of Barry’s books are available now for free on the GLORIA website,
including The
Arab States and the Palestine Conflict, The
Truth About Syria, and more.
In addition to these
projects, Barry’s longtime dream of helping develop the next generation of Middle
East scholars has become a reality. In October, Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi became
the first recipient of the Rubin Fellowship. Al-Tamimi has already emerged as
one of the world’s leading experts on the Islamic State (IS), recently testifying
before the British parliament on the subject.
As Barry’s widow and
co-author, I ask for your help in ensuring the GLORIA Center continues these ongoing
activities. Funds are especially needed to expand the Rubin Fellowship. Please
consider making a donation in Barry’s memory and for the values for which he
dedicated his life. Make your
tax-deductible donation today from the United States, the UK, or Israel.
Monday, December 1, 2014
Book Review: Nazis, Islamists, and the Making of the Modern Middle East
“The enemy of your enemy is your friend,”
wrote the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, al-Hajj Amin al-Husaini, about his
reverence for Nazi Germany that had fought his enemies, the (British)
colonialists and the Zionists. While this may have been an understatement, it is
common knowledge that the Palestinian Arab leader ruined his reputation by
collaborating with the Nazis. The exact nature and extent of his collaboration
and the solidity of its ideological foundations, however, were not fully
explored until the publication of this study. It is to the credit of these two
fine scholars, the late Israeli historian Barry Rubin and his colleague
Wolfgang G. Schwanitz, that they discovered documentary proof in German,
Yugoslav, Israeli, British and Russian archives of how the Grand Mufti made
maximal efforts to provide the Nazis—who were notoriously short of allies—with
as much assistance as he could.
Goebbels and Himmler were grateful to the
Grand Mufti for his support. With his usual self-gratulatory tone, Goebbels
wrote in his diary that al-Husaini was “intelligent and had good judgment.”
With the help of the Mufti, the Nazis hoped that they could win the support of
four hundred million Muslims. As late as May, 8, 1944, Himmler gave the Mufti
an entire afternoon of his precious time. During this meeting the two men
discussed horses, Arabic poetry and the achievements of the Muslim units that
the Mufti had helped enlist and which fought for the Third Reich. These
included the Hanzar (Khanjar) division which “had participated in the murder of
thousands of Bosnian Jews, Christian Serbs and Roma (“Gypsies”).”...
Professor
Johannes Houwink ten Cate, co-author of “In het puin van het getto: het concentratiekamp Warschau,” Jewish Political Studies Review
25(Fall 2013)3-4, 26 November 2014.
------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------
Barry Rubin and Wolfgang G. Schwanitz, Nazis,
Islamists and the Making of the Modern Middle East, New Haven & London:
Yale University Press, 2014, xiii plus 340 pp.
Reviewed by Johannes Houwink Ten Cate
“The enemy of your enemy is your friend,” wrote the
Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, al-Hajj Amin al-Husaini, about his reverence for Nazi
Germany that had fought his enemies, the (British) colonialists and the
Zionists. While this may have been an understatement, it is common knowledge
that the Palestinian Arab leader ruined his reputation by collaborating with
the Nazis. The exact nature and extent of his collaboration and the solidity of
its ideological foundations, however, were not fully explored until the
publication of this study. It is to the credit of these two fine scholars, the
late Israeli historian Barry Rubin and his colleague Wolfgang G. Schwanitz,
that they discovered documentary proof in German, Yugoslav, Israeli, British
and Russian archives of how the Grand Mufti made maximal efforts to provide the
Nazis—who were notoriously short of allies—with as much assistance as he could.
Goebbels and Himmler were grateful to the Grand Mufti
for his support. With his usual self-gratulatory tone, Goebbels wrote in his
diary that al-Husseini was “intelligent and had good judgment.” With the help
of the Mufti, the Nazis hoped that they could win the support of four hundred
million Muslims. As late as May, 8, 1944, Himmler gave the Mufti an entire
afternoon of his precious time. During this meeting the two men discussed
horses, Arabic poetry and the achievements of the Muslim units that the Mufti had
helped enlist and which fought for the Third Reich. These included the Hanzar
(Khanjar) division which “had participated in the murder of thousands of
Bosnian Jews, Christian Serbs and Roma (“Gypsies”).”
After the defeat of the Third Reich, al-Husseini wanted
to persuade the world that he had collaborated out of opportunistic motives,
essentially because other Middle Eastern leaders accommodated the British and
French colonial powers, and Nazi Germany fought against those countries. During
the war, however, and especially before Nazi audiences, al-Husseini quoted the
Quran as proof that the Jews were terrorists, the bitterest enemies of the
Muslims, and haters of Muhammad. Second on his list of worst enemies were the
British. The Mufti added that he did his utmost to convince Muslims to join the
Waffen-SS, the elite army of Nazi Germany. Thousands followed the call of the
Mufti, although the contingent of Dutchmen outnumbered the Muslims among the
foreign volunteers in the SS. According to the Mufti, Nazi Germany was the
natural ally of the Muslims. He added that Germany was fighting against “World
Jewry,” England and Communism which oppressed forty million Muslims and wanted
to destroy Islam. However, there was much more to his collaboration. According
to the Mufti, the most important feature of their alliance was the fact that
Nazism and Islamism shared a common ideological basis.
The title of this seminal book, Nazis, Islamists and
the Making of the Modern Middle East is appropriate because Rubin and Schwanitz
document these ideological similarities. Indeed, Rubin and Schwanitz not only
have written a study of the collaboration of the Mufti with Nazi Germany but
also a study of the “making of the modern Middle East.” Both Islam and Nazism
preached the necessity of a community living in a single state under a single,
all-powerful leader [i.e., Das Führer Prinzip]. Furthermore, redemptive
anti-Semitism was central to the worldview of the Nazi religion. Both Islam and
Nazism glorified armed conflict and martyrdom as well as the notion of the
common good (as opposed to individual liberty), the family, motherhood,
physical labor and hatred of Jews. According to the Mufti, an Allied victory
would mean the triumph of the Jews and a disaster for Muslims and Islam. If
Germany and Islam would win the war, the Arabs would be united under their new
leader, namely the Grand Mufti, and the Jews would be destroyed. Despite the
setback of the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, Haj Amin al-Husseini remained
the historic Palestinian Arab leader until Yasser Arafat succeeded him in 1968.
Rubin and Schwanitz have produced an extremely
well-researched and documented book, both on the Mufti and on the common
ideological ground shared by Nazi doctrine and political Islam in its radical
form. However, some of the authors’ assertions are not entirely convincing.
Along with Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal, they state that the Mufti visited Nazi
death camps. Nazi leaders usually did not show these camps to foreign
sympathizers. They also note that the Mufti supported an “accelerated policy of
genocide that the Axis’ partner intended to spread to the Middle East” (160).
Had the Nazis been victorious in the Middle East, it is plausible that in
planning the most universal of genocides (to paraphrase Professor Yehuda
Bauer), they would have murdered the Jews there as well, since that was their
policy toward all Jews, even in territories that they had not yet conquered.
However, it is not likely that Hitler and his henchmen needed the support of the
Mufti in making their genocidal decision to kill the Jews. In their discussion
of the role of Haj Amin in the decision-making process of implementing the
Holocaust, Rubin and Schwanitz are skating on thin ice. They repeat the common
error of over-estimating the importance of the Wannsee Conference (20 January
1942). In fact, 1,100,000 million Jews had perished prior to that meeting. In
addition, they appear to have ignored much of the recent scholarship on this
decision-making process, particularly the works of Christopher R. Browning on
the origins of the Final Solution.
In any case, the above is but a minor criticism. The
main point is that Rubin and Schwanitz have provided a work based upon
excellent original research and have produced a well-written and seminal book
on the collaborationist policies of the Grand Mufti, who strove to become the
most important Arab leader of his time. It is always important to remember that
it was the Mufti himself who emphasized the ideological common ground of Nazism
and radical political Islamism. Rubin and Schwanitz have demonstrated its
continuity.
Johannes Houwink ten Cate is Professor of Holocaust
and Genocide Studies at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
The GLORIA Center needs your help to continue its ground-breaking Middle East reporting
Last week, MERIA Journal's exclusive Special Report Did ISIS Use Chemical Weapons Against
the Kurds in Kobani?, by new GLORIA
Center Director Jonathan Spyer, caught the world’s attention with its
shocking unprecedented photos of Kurds killed by apparent Islamic State (ISIS)
use of chemical weapons in northern Syria. The story has been reprinted and/or
cited in major media outlets, including:
·
U.S.: New York Times, Huffington Post,
New York Post, FOX News, Buzzfeed, Middle East Forum
·
Europe: Bild-Zeitung, Russia Today
·
Israel: Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel,
Channels 9 and 10.
In the same week, GLORIA's Rubin Research Fellow Aymenn
Jawad al-Tamimi testified before the British House of Commons on the threat
represented by the Islamic State, drawing on his own unique information sources
and field data collection.
At a time of unprecedented crisis within the
Middle East and far beyond, the world needs this information now more than
ever.
Click
to make a tax-deductible donation in the U.S., Israel, or the U.K.
Click to donate quickly & easily in the United States via Paypal.
Founded by the
late Professor Barry Rubin in 2000, the GLORIA Center produces up-to-date, insightful
analysis and reporting on modern Middle East affairs, using primary sources and exclusive on-the-ground
contacts throughout the region.
Professor Rubin was a prolific analyst of Middle-East
politics. Since his untimely death in
February 2014, new Director Dr. Jonathan Spyer has visited Iraq and Syria, witnessing
developments first-hand and interviewing participants.
With its dynamic leadership and
contributors, GLORIA remains one of the most versatile and active Mid-East
research centers in the world.
GLORIA Center Highlight
Accomplishments in 2014:
- ISIS Chemical Weapons: Ongoing exclusive coverage
and its implications for the region
- Iraq and Syria: Frontline reporting, including
exclusive on-ground interviews
- Media and Consultancy: For government, news media,
and academic research, including testimony about ISIS before the British
House of Commons and elsewhere
- Middle East Review of
International Affairs (MERIA) Journal: Covering the latest developments in the region
from a wide variety of viewpoints, including U.S. policy, radical
movements and minorities, MERIA is the most
widely read journal of its type in the world, with a circulation of over
25,000. MERIA is available free of
charge.
- Nazis, Islamists and the Making
of the Modern Middle East: One of Prof. Barry Rubin's
final books, co-authored by Visiting Fellow Prof. Dr. Wolfgang G.
Schwanitz and published by Yale University Press in 2014, this acclaimed
book focuses on the political
alliance forged among Third Reich leaders, Arab nationalists, and Muslim
religious authorities during the 1930s and 1940s.
- Silent Revolution: How the Left
Rose to Political Power and Cultural Dominance: Published in April 2014 by
Harper Collins and among Barry Rubin's last books, the book is an exposé of
the radicalism masquerading as liberalism today and its unchecked rise to
cultural and political power in the United States.
- The Military History of the
Modern Middle East: Forthcoming in January 2015 (Routledge), this collection,
edited by Barry Rubin, covers the military history of the past hundred
years, including such topics as both world wars, the Turkish-Greek
conflicts, Arab nationalism, the Arab-Israeli conflicts, and the post-2003
fighting in Iraq.
- Israel: An Introduction in Chinese: Barry Rubin's (ed.) book, originally published by Yale
University Press in 2012, will soon be available in Chinese, thanks
to SIGNAL and the China University of Petroleum (CUP). This is the first book to provide
a comprehensive picture of modern Israel and will be used in Israel
Studies programs across China.
- Free Books: 13 full-text books by Barry Rubin on the
Israel-Palestinian conflict, Syria, U.S. policy, Jewish assimilation, and
more
- Turkish Studies: In a crucial geographical and political location, Turkey’s importance is growing rapidly throughout Europe, the Middle East, and the Caucasus. With an upsurge in interest in its history, politics, and foreign policy, Turkish Studies quarterly offers scholarly discussion on these topics and more.
Click to make a tax-deductible donation in the U.S., Israel, or the U.K.
Click
to donate quickly & easily in the United States via Paypal.
For more
information or to pledge support, please contact info@gloria-center.org
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
The Logic of the Middle East, a prescient analysis by Prof. Barry Rubin
In light of the current situation in Israel and Gaza, the GLORIA Center is reposting Prof. Rubin's prescient analysis of the likely situation that would emerge in Gaza following the Disengagement.
This article is, if anything, even more relevant today than when it was first published in 2005:
By Barry Rubin
August 2005
It cannot be repeated often enough that Middle East politics are not like those of other places. They make sense once one understands the region’s history, politics, and institutions, but they defy the logic that uninformed or semi-informed outsiders expect.
Consider, as the most recent example, Palestinian politics and the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Here is what might be expected to happen:
“This is a step forward by Israel showing that this country is ready to make peace,” the Palestinian leader would tell his people. “We must now make the most of this opportunity in two ways.”
“First, we must encourage Israel to agree to a comprehensive deal by proving to its leaders and people that we really do accept their country’s existence and security. The best way to do this is by stopping all incitement to hate Israel and portray it as illegitimate in our media and textbooks, while showing our determination to prevent terror attacks. We will demand all of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip in a Palestinian state but we will simultaneously show we are true nationalists by making it clear that all Palestinian refugees should be resettled in our own state in order to make it prosperous and successful.”
“Second, we must show the world that we are worthy and ready for a state by governing the Gaza Strip well. We will put all security forces under political control and disband the extremist militias. A stable government will be established that will not permit anarchy. We will fight corruption and use the aid money well. And we will show our commitment to democracy. We may not succeed completely but everyone will know that we have done our best and made real progress. ”
“Critical in this effort is to show our people that this great day was brought about not by murdering Israeli civilians but as an outcome of the negotiations process begun with the Oslo agreement.”
Indeed, many people in the West no doubt think that this is what already is happening. But what, in fact, is the most likely course of events in the Palestinian debate and politics?
--There will be no decline in incitement or change in the public rhetoric of Palestinian officials speaking to their own people. Thus, of course, Israeli suspicions regarding their intentions will be reinforced.
--The Palestinian movement will continue to be oriented toward conquest and revenge rather than nation-state nationalism.
--No stable government with real control over the territory will be created in the Gaza Strip, and the Palestinian Authority will not even try too hard to do that. On the contrary, it will ignore the Road Map’s provisions about stopping terrorism and disarming radical groups and simply keep insisting on getting a state right away without preconditions or concessions.
--The Israeli withdrawal will be claimed as a victory for terrorism (under the phrase revolutionary violence) thus laying the basis for more of the same.
--Palestinian security forces will stand by most of the time and do nothing as not only Hamas and Islamic Jihad but also Fatah gunmen try to attack Israel. Then the Palestinian leadership will scream when Israel retaliates. The big losers here will be the Palestinians themselves since this continuing war will destroy any chance for development.
--Anti-corruption efforts will remain tiny even in the context of modest expectations. The new aid money being offered by the West will disappear without a trace.
--The Palestinian leadership will do everything possible to avoid power-sharing, wider democracy, or fair elections. There is some good reason for this since Hamas will benefit the most if people are given a choice but a large part of the reason for that situation is precisely the current leadership’s failure to do more for the masses’ welfare.
In short, there is every reason to believe that the Palestinian leadership and movements will throw away this opportunity. If you don’t think so, let’s talk about it again in six months’ time.
Does this analysis mean Israel should not withdraw? Actually, one could argue the exact opposite. For if nothing is going to change any way why should it be bound to the status quo? Take away the excuse of “occupation” and let the world—and far more importantly the Palestinians themselves—see the real cause of their problems. Let Israel determine its best deployments and use of security resources rather than have to be permanently tied down to being in the whole Gaza Strip.
Of course, one should quickly add, that Israel largely withdrew from the territory eleven years ago when it was turned over to the tender mercies of Yasir Arafat. The presence of 7500 settlers and Israeli control over certain roads had very little effect on the Palestinian situation there. On my many trips to the Gaza Strip in the second half of the 1990s, I never saw Israeli settlers, soldiers or road blocks. It was like being in Jordan or Lebanon, a Palestinian state in all but name.
The idea at the time was that he would have to deal with schools and sewage, jobs and housing. The problem was that he and his colleagues had no interest in anything other than fighting Israel. Some of his top successors have better intentions but lack the power or determination to do better. As a substitute, they will complain about inadequate international support, blame Israel for everything, and urge more militancy. Which side will be better off after the withdrawal? Watch the material realities, not the rhetoric to find out.
Barry Rubin was director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC). He was the author and co-author of many books on history, politics and the Middle East. He passed away in 2014.
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