Khaled Kasab Mahameed
Encyclopedia
Khaled Kasab Mahameed is an Arab
Israeli Muslim
lawyer
living in Nazareth
, Israel
.
, the world-renowned Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. The Arab Institute for the Holocaust Research and Education along with its website was established by Mahameed in order to educate Arabs about the Holocaust. According to Mahameed the museum is the first of its kind. Every week Mahameed goes to the West Bank to educate Palestinians about the Jewish Holocaust. Mahmeed opened a Holocaust memorial exhibit in Ni'lin
in January 2009 and on April 21, Holocaust Memorial Day
, there was an official inauguration ceremony. Ni'lin has been a place of frequent protests of the Israeli West Bank barrier
.
He regards educating Arabs on the Holocaust as a contribution to promoting Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Mahameed has been criticized from the Arab side for focusing on Israeli problems rather than the problems of the Palestinian people
as well as for instance by the USA based Anti Defamation League (ADL), which accuses him of making an improper connection between the situation of the Palestinians and the Holocaust. The ADL has argued that Mahameed's museum generates the impression that Palestinians are suffering as a result of the Holocaust by having to accept an illegal Israel
i state, which the ADL regards as anti-Israeli.
Since first saying this, ADL's senior associate national director Kenneth Jacobson has described the initiative as "very good", after visiting Khaled Kasab Mahameed and his museum.
In 2006, Iran
ian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad invited Mahameed to his government's "International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust
". Mahameed was to be the lone speaker arguing that the Holocaust did in fact occur, with the exception of the ultra-Orthodox anti-Israel rabbi Aharon Cohen
. However, Ahmadinejad rescinded the invitation after learning that Mahameed holds an Israeli passport.
According to Ha'aretz, Mahameed intended to tell the conference that:
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
Israeli Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
living in Nazareth
Nazareth
Nazareth is the largest city in the North District of Israel. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," the population is made up predominantly of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
Career
In March 2005 he established The Arab Institute for the Holocaust Research and Education, a Holocaust Memorial located in Nazareth. The small museum documents the horrors of the Holocaust, showcasing photographs acquired from Yad VashemYad Vashem
Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament....
, the world-renowned Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. The Arab Institute for the Holocaust Research and Education along with its website was established by Mahameed in order to educate Arabs about the Holocaust. According to Mahameed the museum is the first of its kind. Every week Mahameed goes to the West Bank to educate Palestinians about the Jewish Holocaust. Mahmeed opened a Holocaust memorial exhibit in Ni'lin
Ni'lin
Ni'lin is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the central West Bank, located west of Ramallah. Ni'lin is about east of the 1949 Armistice Line bordered by Deir Qaddis, the Israeli settlements of Nili and Na'ale to the northeast, the village of al-Midya and Modi'in...
in January 2009 and on April 21, Holocaust Memorial Day
Holocaust Memorial Day
Holocaust Memorial Day or Holocaust Remembrance Day may refer to one of several commemorations of the Holocaust.-See also:* United Nations Holocaust Memorial* List of Holocaust memorials and museums...
, there was an official inauguration ceremony. Ni'lin has been a place of frequent protests of the Israeli West Bank barrier
Israeli West Bank barrier
The Israeli West Bank barrier is a separation barrier being constructed by the State of Israel along and within the West Bank. Upon completion, the barrier’s total length will be approximately...
.
He regards educating Arabs on the Holocaust as a contribution to promoting Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Mahameed has been criticized from the Arab side for focusing on Israeli problems rather than the problems of the Palestinian people
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
as well as for instance by the USA based Anti Defamation League (ADL), which accuses him of making an improper connection between the situation of the Palestinians and the Holocaust. The ADL has argued that Mahameed's museum generates the impression that Palestinians are suffering as a result of the Holocaust by having to accept an illegal Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i state, which the ADL regards as anti-Israeli.
Since first saying this, ADL's senior associate national director Kenneth Jacobson has described the initiative as "very good", after visiting Khaled Kasab Mahameed and his museum.
In 2006, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad invited Mahameed to his government's "International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust
International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust
The International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust was a two-day conference that opened on December 11, 2006, in Tehran, Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the conference sought "neither to deny nor prove the Holocaust.....
". Mahameed was to be the lone speaker arguing that the Holocaust did in fact occur, with the exception of the ultra-Orthodox anti-Israel rabbi Aharon Cohen
Aharon Cohen
Aharon Cohen was a senior member of Mapam, a pro-USSR Israeli political party which existed during the first two decades of statehood.Born, 1910, in Britchany, Bessarabia in what was the Tsarist empire, now Romania. He came to Palestine in 1929 where he joined kibbutz Sha'ar Ha'amakin, near Haifa....
. However, Ahmadinejad rescinded the invitation after learning that Mahameed holds an Israeli passport.
According to Ha'aretz, Mahameed intended to tell the conference that: