In a blow to Nazi gourmands the world over, authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan, stung by international publicity, have closed the popular Hitler Restaurant until the owner changes its name. But according to Rebar Mohammed, the owner of the beloved eatery, this represented a swift and abrupt turnabout from how those authorities had reacted to the restaurant before the publicity hit: “Even when I started the paperwork seven months ago to register my restaurant’s name, I did not receive any negative reactions from the government or security forces. It was quite normal.”

Normal indeed, in Muslim countries. The popularity of the Hitler Restaurant was telling. Naming a restaurant after figure who is beloved among the eatery’s potential customers was, in the Iraq Kurdish city of Duhok, a canny move. This is because, thanks to Islam’s deeply rooted antisemitism, Hitler is indeed a popular individual in many Muslim countries.

There have been numerous illustrations of this popularity in recent years. In May, the President of the British Pakistani Youth Council praised Adolf Hitler for killing Jews. Last February, an Egyptian researcher declared: “We should erect a statue of Hitler for what he did to the Jews.” In Paris in July 2018, a Muslim screaming “Allahu akbar, long live Hitler, death to Jews” assaulted a Jewish man. In 2017, a UK: Muslim migrant paraded a “Hitler You Were Right” sign in Britain. In 2016, an Egyptian Muslim “human rights activist” said that Hitler was a “great man” who “exposed truth about Jews.”

And so on and on. RT reported in November 2017 that “visitors at a visual effects museum in Indonesia can pose for a snap with a wax Adolf Hitler, against a banner depicting the Auschwitz death camp.” Nothing to be concerned about: this ghastly display, RT tells us, was “seen as ‘fun’ by the museum.”

The wax Führer stood in front of “a wall-sized photo of the entrance to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp with the infamous inscription ‘Arbeit macht freit’ (Work sets you free).” The “moderate” Indonesians loved it: “the Hitler figure is ‘one of the favorite for our visitors to take selfies with,’ said a marketing officer in the museum who goes by the name of Warli.” Those who think this grotesque and offensive should relax: “Most of our visitors are having fun because they know this is just an entertainment museum.”

Hitler and Auschwitz. That’s entertainment, at least in Indonesia.

Where did this love for Hitler and hatred for Jews come from? The answer is clear, albeit as unpopular in the West as the Hitler Restaurant was popular in Duhok: both come from the Qur’an’s teachings about Jews. The Muslim holy book depicts the Jews as inveterately evil and bent on destroying the well-being of the Muslims. They are the strongest of all people in enmity toward the Muslims (5:82); they fabricate things and falsely ascribe them to Allah (2:79; 3:75, 3:181); they claim that Allah’s power is limited (5:64); they love to listen to lies (5:41); they disobey Allah and never observe his commands (5:13). They are disputing and quarreling (2:247); hiding the truth and misleading people (3:78); staging rebellion against the prophets and rejecting their guidance (2:55); being hypocritical (2:14, 2:44); giving preference to their own interests over the teachings of Muhammad (2:87); wishing evil for people and trying to mislead them (2:109); feeling pain when others are happy or fortunate (3:120); being arrogant about their being Allah’s beloved people (5:18); devouring people’s wealth by subterfuge (4:161); slandering the true religion and being cursed by Allah (4:46); killing the prophets (2:61); being merciless and heartless (2:74); never keeping their promises or fulfilling their words (2:100); being unrestrained in committing sins (5:79); being cowardly (59:13-14); being miserly (4:53); being transformed into apes and pigs for breaking the Sabbath (2:63-65; 5:59-60; 7:166); and more. They are under Allah’s curse (9:30), and Muslims should wage war against them and subjugate them under Islamic hegemony (9:29).

It is no wonder that the Hitler Restaurant was popular. It’s too bad that Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar couldn’t drop by before it was closed. It’s surprising that Rebar Mohammed didn’t arrange this before the place was shut down – it would have been an easy way to pick up a couple of five-star reviews on Yelp.

Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is author of the New York Times bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. His latest book is The History of Jihad From Muhammad to ISIS. Follow him on Twitter here. Like him on Facebook here.

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