The book portrays Husseini , a member of an important Jerusalem Arab family , as an anti-Semite and a key figure in infusing the modern Arab world with anti-Semitic attitudes . It asserts that Husseini 's views were the '' casus belli '' for virtually all modern Middle Eastern terrorism - " an unbroken chain of terror from Adolf Hitler , Haj Amin al-Husseini , Sayyid Qutb , and Yasser Arafat to Hamas ' founder and spiritual leader , Sheikh Ahmad Yassin , Sheikh Omar Abd al-Rahman , and Ramzi Yousef , who planned the World Trade Center bombings of 1993 , to Osama bin Laden and Mohamed Atta , to Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh , the Pakistani Muslim terrorist who planned the kidnapping and murder of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl , and to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad . " '' Icon of Evil '' received a strongly critical response from some reviewers . Simon Maxwell Apter , writing in the '' San Francisco Chronicle '' , describes the book as " cursory and apparently hastily written " and " bereft of any nuance or counterargument " for its insistence on blaming the mufti for " anything and everything Islamist " . Acknowledging that Husseini had indeed played an important role in inciting anti-Jewish violence , Apter concludes that '' Icon of Evil '' presents a distorted simplification of history : " To claim that '' Icon of Evil '' paints a black-and-white view of history does the book too much justice ; it 's an entirely black - or entirely white - story told here . " The Israeli historian Tom Segev , writing in the '' New York Times '' , criticized the book as " of little scholarly value , and it may be potentially harmful to Middle East peace prospects . " Segev highlights the authors ' consistent failure to provide solid evidence , for instance asserting on the basis of rumors that Husseini owed his position to a " passionate homosexual relationship " with a senior British official , and the degree to which the authors " blur the terms radical Islam , anti-Semitism and Nazism " and group together numerous Arabs and Muslims as " disciples of the mufti . " He concludes : " T he book is worth noticing , as it belongs to a genre of popular Arab-bashing that is often believed to be ' good for Israel . ' It is not . The suggestion that Israel 's enemies are Nazis , or the Nazis ' heirs , is apt to discourage any fair compromise with the Palestinians , and that is bad for Israel . " Benny Morris , an Israeli historian , commends the authors for " putting their finger on important affinities " but criticises the quality of their work , describing ' Icon of Evil " as a " bad book " : " they decidedly over-reach , and , given the poverty of their scholarship , they often fail to persuade , leaving the reader with the bad taste of propaganda . " He comments that they " suffer not from pedantry but from overtly propagandistic aims . They are constantly beating an ideological drum . Their adjectives are a giveaway . Every anti-Semite or anti-Semitic text is ' virulent ' or ' notorious . ' " The book " abounds with errors of fact " , and Morris describes as " obscene " the authors ' digression into a counterfactual history in which the Nazis won the Second World War and exterminated the Jews of Palestine with Husseini 's assistance . Despite this , Morris allows that " much of what the book says is soberingly truthful and to the point " James Srodes of '' The Washington Times '' describes '' Icon of Evil '' , as " another attempt to take a valid avenue for historical exploration and hype its sales " by drawing questionable links between Islamism and Hitler . Srodes comments that Husseini 's story " is important enough without embroidering it with swastikas " , noting the role that Husseini played in fomenting anti-Jewish riots and murders in British-ruled Palestine . However , he criticizes the authors ' rendering of the story as " shameful hype " that " merely confuses the larger story ... by try ing to draw a direct line from Adolf Hitler to al-Husseini and then to his distant cousin Yasser Arafat , let alone to Saddam Hussein . " '' Kirkus Reviews '' is similarly critical , noting that although the authors had done extensive archival research " their book is not a piece of sophisticated scholarship " and takes " reflexively pro-Israel positions " . The book starts out as " a n insightful examination of a rarely studied aspect of World War II — the collaboration of Islamic political parties and Middle East regimes with the Nazis — but quickly evolves into a brief for the neoconservative worldview . " The authors present " questionable broad-brush analysis " and " more speculation than is usually found in history books "
World Trade Center bombings of 1993
1993 World Trade Center bombing
Icon of Evil