The Mufti and the Fuhrer

History shows that collusion between European and Arab states against Israel is not unprecedented.

Germany and the Arabs have a common history of hatred of the Jews. Germany also has a history of aligning its interests with Arabs to achieve its aims in the Middle East. For instance, following World War I, Germany was anxious to secure access to the rich oil fields in the Middle East, but at the time, Britain and France held considerable sway throughout the region. To overcome this problem, Germany began to develop an alliance with the Arabs.

In particular, the Nazis began to engage Jerusalem Mufti Haj Amin el-Husseini, who, because of fomenting Arab sentiment against the British from 1936 to 1939, was forced to flee to Iraq. Once there, he attempted to arrange an Iraqi coup against the British government in 1941. The mufti then fled through Iran and found his way to Berlin, where he received a hero’s welcome as the “führer of the Arab world.” He met with Hitler on a number of occasions and worked to advance the Nazi goal of exterminating the Jews, personally recruiting Bosnian Muslims for the Nazi cause.

Husseini is still highly regarded within Arab circles today, and the Nazi ideology to exterminate the Jews is alive and well within the Middle East. According to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hitler’s Mein Kampf is a bestseller among Palestinian youth.

The history of Germany and Arab states working together to the detriment of the Jews is very sobering to consider in light of the emerging German interest in developing relations with the Arabs.