Palestinian Islamic Jihad rally, 4/15/2005. PIJ is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. Do the participants in this rally appear to be making an Islamic gesture?
Recorded July 24, 2005
REALAUDIO
In the wake of 9/11, the London bombings and other, less-publicized terrorist incidents, this program sets forth more information about the historical development of the fascist/Islamist relationship. (FTR#456 is a compendium of many of the fascist/Nazi links to contemporary terrorism—9/11 in particular.) After highlighting a number of articles relevant to 9/11 and fascist connections to that incident, the broadcast presents an informative paper detailing the development of the Third Reich’s relationship with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem—an SS officer, key Axis spy and (eventually) the first leader of the Palestinian national movement. Husseini was an officer in the Turkish army in World War I, during the period in which the Turks committed genocide against the Christian Armenians. After the British assumed control of much of the Arab territory formerly held as part of the Ottoman Empire, they groomed al-Husseini as a primary functionary of theirs in the Middle East. A murderous anti-Semite, al-Husseini eventually became the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem—the leading Muslim cleric in the British protectorate of Palestine. It is noteworthy that the British reversed their 1922 agreement to abide by a League of Nations mandate to provide for a Jewish homeland in Palestine, in order to curry favor with the Arabs. (Of course, the Arabs controlled the vital oil resources of the Middle East and, because of that, were deemed more important for British imperial aspirations in that part of the world.
Program Highlights Include: Yeslam Binladin’s offer to pay for his brother’s legal defense in the event of Osama’s capture; a statement by the father of 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta supporting the London transit bombings; the fact that Atta’s father bears the same name as a key al-Qaeda weapons procurer (who’s brother financed al-Qaeda and was represented by Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff); the conversion of British fascist David Myatt to Islam; Myatt’s association with the Islamofascist imam of the Finsbury Park mosque; the League of Nations’ 1922 endorsement of the concept of a Jewish homeland; the Grand Mufti’s illegal elevation by the British to his position of power between the wars; the Grand Mufti’s initiation of pogroms against the Jews between the World Wars; the Grand Mufti’s eventual alignment with Nazi Germany during World War II; the World War II era Arabs’ saying “In Heaven Allah, on earth, Hitler.” For more about the genesis of the fascist/Islamist axis, see—among other programs—FTR#’s 371, 383, 414, 416, 453, 473, 514.
1. Beginning with discussion of Osama bin Laden’s half brother Yeslam, the program notes that he has volunteered to pay for Osama’s legal expenses should he ever be captured. This is significant. Yeslam has maintained that he has had nothing to do with his half brother or terrorism. The evidence suggests otherwise. For information about possible terror/9–11 connections of Yeslam and the bin Laden family’s European holding company SICO (which Yeslam heads), see—among other programs—FTR#’s 355, 498, 499. “One of Osama bin Laden’s half brothers said he would pay for the terror mastermind’s defense should he ever be captured, Yeslam Binladin said in a broadcast interview. ‘For sure,’ Yeslam Binladin responded when asked if he would help pay. ‘Everyone has the right to defend himself, anyone who is accused of doing something.’”
(“Bin Laden Relative to Pay for His Defense” by Nadia Abou El-Magd [AP]; Las Vegas Sun; 7/3/05; p. 1.)
2. “Yeslam and Osama are among 54 sons and daughters of the late Saudi construction magnate Mohamed bin Laden, who had 22 wives. Yeslam said he believed his half brother, thought to be hiding in the rugged mountains along the Afghan-Pakistan border, was still alive. ‘I don’t think he’s dead,’ he said in the interview recorded on May 28 that aired Sunday on the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya satellite television station. When asked why U.S. forces had still not been able to track bin Laden down, Yeslam responded: ‘I don’t know, ask them.’” (Idem.)
3. Next, the program highlights the incendiary comments of 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta’s father. Atta’s father endorsed the London bombings, and promised a 50-year war between Muslims and the West. Interestingly, and perhaps significantly, Atta’s father has the same name as the brother of Dr. Magdy el-Amir, a financier of al Qaeda who was represented in court by Michael Chertoff, now the director of the Department of Homeland Security. Dr. el-Amir’s brother was a weapons procurer for al Qaeda, snared in Operation Diamondback. Are Atta’s father and Dr. el-Amir’s brother the same person? (For more about Dr. Magdy el-Amir, Chertoff and Operation Diamondback, see FTR#’s 495, 500.) “The father of one of the September 11 hijackers said today he had no sorrow for what had happened in London and claimed more terrorist attacks would follow. Egyptian Mohamed el-Amir, whose son Mohamed Atta commandeered the first plane that crashed into the World Trade Center in New York, said there was a double standard in the way the world viewed the victims in London and victims in the Islamic world.”
(“Father of 9/11 Hijacker Warns of 50-Year War” [RSS World News]; Daily Mail; 7/20/2005.)
4. “El-Amir said the attacks in the US and the July 7 attacks in Britain were the beginning of what would be a 50-year religious war, in which there would be many more fighters like his son. Speaking to a CNN producer in his apartment in the upper-middle-class Cairo suburb of Giza, he declared that terror cells around the world were a ‘nuclear bomb that has now been activated and is ticking.’ Cursing in Arabic, el-Amir also denounced Arab leaders and Muslims who condemned the London attacks as being traitors and non-Muslims. He passionately vowed that he would do anything within his power to encourage more attacks.” (Idem.)
5. Presenting a window into the mindset of contemporary Islamists, the program presents excerpts of a disturbing interview with Dr. Ahmad Dewidar, imam of the Islamic Society of Mid Manhattan and a lecturer at Manhattanville College. Viewed as ‘the face of the next generation of Muslims in America, Dewidar is
a truly disgusting, horrifying character. Espousing views that would make Hitler proud, Dewidar doesn’t think that Muslims were responsible for 9/11 and feels that Jews control the U.S. government and news media. Such extremism exemplifies why Mr. Emory’s uses the term “Islamofascist” to describe people like Dewidar. Note that the interview here was posted on the website of the Muslim Brotherhood. Note also that Dewidar expresses the view that Muslims were not behind the 9/11 attacks—a view echoed by many of the Internet conspiracy geeks and significant elements of the so-called 9/11 truth movement. “ . . . QUESTION: ‘What steps did you take to fend off the accusation that stuck to the Muslims – [i.e.] that they were behind 9/11?’ DEWIDAR: ‘Although a large part of American society believes that 9/11 was an operation planned and fabricated in order to forge a new reality of world rule under the so-called ‘New World Order,’ most of society got the message from the Muslims that they were in fact the ones behind [the attacks]. [Italics are Mr. Emory’s.] This message was reflected in the [fact that] the Taliban and Osama bin Laden took responsibility for the event, as well as in the reactions of glee in the Arab and Muslim world to what happened. As far as the American government is concerned these events –whether or not these events were planned, or pinned on the Muslims, or something else—provided an opportunity for [the American government] to legislate dubious laws that restrict the growth and presence of Islam in the U.S., such as the [anti-] terrorism law, and other laws. But as far as American society is concerned, the suspicion towards anything Islamic—in the streets, in places of recreation and commerce, and in workplaces—remains a heavy burden on the Muslim citizen in America. The media—most of which is under Zionist control—has helped to spread this perception. [Italics are Mr. Emory’s.] When [the media] see a bearded Muslim selling fast food on any street in any state, they put the camera lens in front of him and interview him as though he represents Islam. At the same time, they ignore every moderate Islamic voice, every serious, scientific Islamic model, and every expert religious scholar. We are trying to deal [with this phenomenon] through constant contact with the media and by registering complaints with its directors.’”
(“Head of Islamic Center in Manhattan: Many Americans Believe 9/11 Was Fabricated to Enable the Forging of a ‘New World Order” [Interview with Dr. Ahmad Dewidar]; MEMRI Special Dispatch Series No. 928; 6/30/2005; [Excerpted from an interview on the Muslim Brotherhood’s website www.ikhwaonline.com and MBC TV; pp. 1–2.)
6. “ ‘To conclude, I would like to say that American society—without relating to any given government position—is an active society that loves life and is quick to forget. It will get over the events of 9/11 easily, on condition that we offer them proof that we are innocent of this crime . . . .’ [Italics are Mr. Emory’s.]” (Ibid.; p. 2.)
7. “QUESTION: ‘What is the extent of the Muslim community’s influence on American society?’ DEWIDAR: ‘The Zionist community numbers only three million, but they control the government, the politics, the economy, and the media in the U.S. [Italics are Mr. Emory’s.] At the same time, the Islamic community numbers 11 million, but its influence is weak. . . . QUESTION: ‘Are the only obstacles that prevent the organization and influence of the Muslim community obstacles related to its internal affairs? DEWIDAR: ‘Of course not. Many are interested in preventing our influence in society—first and foremost the Zionist lobby, which influences the media at present, so that we cannot spread our ideas and spotlight our leaders and our successful models. Even when a Muslim tries to work in the media, he has to contend with five million media employees who are controlled by the Jews. [Italics are Mr. Emory’s.] If he is a genius, and they are forced to employ him, he works behind the camera, not in front of it. . . .” (Idem.)
8. In evaluating and analyzing the London transit bombings, it is important to take into consideration the fact that a number of British neo-Nazis have embraced the Islamist cause. A former “Nazi-Satanist” David Myatt has become a Muslim in order to fight against “the Jews.” Note that Myatt was received and lauded by Omar Bakri Mohamed, implicated in the London bombings and taken into custody shortly afterward. (For more about the neo-Nazi/Islamofascist link, see—among other programs—FTR#’s 352, 443, 456, 499.) “...the charismatic leader of the English neo-Nazi movement, David Myatt, now become Abdul Aziz ibn Myatt, appeals to those nostalgic Axis members and to all enemies of the Zionists, to embrace with him the Jihad, the ‘true martial religion’ , which will most effectively fight against the Jews and the Americans. Another sign of this rapprochement: on April 3, 2003, the Salafist Londoner Omar Bakri Mohamed, leader of the movement al Mouhajiroun as well as being imam of the Finsbury Park mosque and a recruiter of a number of youths who went off to join al Qaeda, officially received Myatt and accorded him a ‘welcome into Islam’, specifying to journalists that the neo-Nazi past of this neophyte had ‘no special importance once their goals converged in common’.”
(“The Reds, The Browns and the Greens” by Alexandre Del Valle; Occidentalis; 12/13/04; p. 2.)
9. More about the European neo-Fascist/Islamofascist link: “Proof of the European and trans-national dimension of the new pro-Islamist dimension of the extreme right is in London, where one of the principal centers of Islamist proselytism, the Islamic Council of Defense of Europe, is based. This institution is animated by old neo-Nazi militants. At its head, one finds Tahir de la Nive, a Franco-British convert to Islam who, imitating David Myatt, extols the general Islamization of Europe as the sole ‘remedy for decadence and American-Zionist imperialism’. Quite respected among the ‘national-revolutionary’ milieus, among skinheads and in the heart of the New Right, Mr. de la Nive, an old mujahid who had gone off to fight the Soviet ‘infidels’ in the 1980s, advocates a kind of ‘European Islamic nationalism’ and publishes a bilingual French-English review, Centurio, which ‘treats of the military problems in the framework of Islamic philosophy and war’. In a recent work prefaced by Omar Amin and Christian Bouchet, Les Croises de I’Oncle Sam [The Crusades of Uncle Sam], this Brown-Green ideologue calls on all neo-Nazi militants to join revolutionary Islam and denounce every form of compromise with the ‘diabolic’ forces of American-Israeli imperialism. Other central figures of English fascism, the directors of the World Union of Socialists—Colin Jordan, the ‘Fuhrer’ of the English National Socialist Movement (NSM), and John Tyndall—have since 1988 been maintaining
contacts with Palestinian terrorist milieus as well as with the regime of Muammar Kadhafy. On his side, the head of the English Nationalist Movement, Troy Southgate, has declared in the columns of the Franco-English national-revolutionary journal W.O.T.A.N. (Will of the Aryan Nations); ‘In Palestine, the cruelty of Zionism is evident and we cannot but sympathize with the Palestinian people, who, just as ourselves, have seen their land soiled and despoiled by the ignoble parasite which is ‘international Jewry.’ The ENM salutes Hamas and totally supports the armed struggle against those who have viciously attacked the ancestral heritage of an entire nation’.” (Ibid.; p. 4.)
10. Most of the program consists of a lengthy excerpt of an excellent article about the historical development of the Islamist/Nazi link. It is very important to note the role of British imperial strategy in catalyzing the beginnings of the Nazi/Islamist connection. “The end of World War I brought an end to the Ottoman colonization of Palestine. Towards the end of the war, Britain issued the Balfour Declaration supporting the ‘establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people ....’ The original reaction of the Arabs was mixed. While many Arabs opposed the Zionists, Emir Faisal — who was the son of former Mecca ruler Sherif Hussein and later King of Iraq — signed in 1919 a declaration in support of the Balfour Declaration, even supporting all necessary measures ‘...to encourage and stimulate immigration of Jews into Palestine on a large scale, and as quickly as possible to settle Jewish immigrants upon the land through closer settlement and intensive cultivation of the soil.’ But peace between Arab and Jew would not last.”
(“Nazi Influence on the Middle East During WWII” by David Storobin, Esq.; Global Politician; 1/6/05; p. 1.)
11. The bulk of the program consists of the reading of a long, informative article on the genesis of the Nazi/Islamist connection. Of paramount importance in this analysis is the cynical colonialist realpolitik practiced by the British. After assuming control of Palestine under a mandate from the League of Nations, they illegally elevated Haj Amin al-Husseini to his position as Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in order to court the powerful Husseini clan as allies in the maintenance of this part of their empire. (The Husseini family wielded considerable influence in both Jerusalem and Mecca, and were thus seen as pivotal to British colonial ambitions in the Middle East.) Note that Husseini had been in the Turkish army during World War I during the period in which the Turks perpetrated genocide against the Christian Armenians. He was engaging in massacres of Jews from 1920 on. Later—as an SS officer and key ally of Nazi Germany—he exercised his political abilities against the British Empire. “On April 4,1920, Haj Amin al-Husseini organized thousands of Arabs to attack Jews in Jerusalem. Arab police either stayed away or joined the rioters. The pogrom continued on April 5. By the time order was restored by a Ze’ev Jabotinsky-led Jewish militia, 5 Jews were killed and 211 injured. At least two Jewish girls were raped. Al-Husseini was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, but after a few months of hiding in Transjordan (now Jordan) was pardoned by Herbert Samuel, a British Jew who served as the High Commissioner of Palestine.” (Idem.)
12. “A year later, on May 1, 1921, al-Husseini organized another round of pogroms. On that day, Zionists clashed with Communists during the May Day parade. Communists were quickly dispersed, but Haj Amin al-Husseini made sure not to miss the opportunity and quickly summoned his forces. When rioting ended on May 6, at least 13 Jews were murdered. While the British colonial powers admitted that Arabs instigated the violence, they decided not to press charges against al-Husseini because they felt he was provoked by Zionists who demanded establishment of the Jewish state.” (Idem.)
13. “The 1921 riots came shortly after al-Husseini was appointed Mufti of Jerusalem by the British — in violation of election results. The two primary Arab families in Jerusalem were the Husseinis and the Nashashibis. When Great Britain conquered Jerusalem, a member of the al-Husseini clan was mayor of Jerusalem, but was subsequently removed by the colonial government with a member of the Nashashibi family appointed in his place. In March 1921, the Mufti of Jerusalem — a Husseini — died. The High Commissioner of the colony considered it desirable to balance the Nashashibi mayor with a Husseini mufti, with Haj Amin al-Husseini being his preferred candidate for the position.” (Idem.)
14. Note that the Mufti’s elevation by the British was illegal. “The electoral college nominated three candidates for the position of the Mufti. Under the long-established law, the colonial power was to choose among the top three vote-getters. However, the preferred candidate of the Brits, Haj Amin al-Husseini, placed fourth, receiving only about 7% of the vote. To the local Islamic leaders (outside the Husseini clan), the young man’s lack of religious preparation and knowledge made him an unacceptable candidate to be the top religious leader in Jerusalem. All of the top three candidates were Nashashibi-sponsored, while the Husseini clan focused its energies on promoting Haj Amin. The British intervened and forced the most popular candidate, Sheikh Husam al-Din, to withdraw, thus pushing al-Husseini into third place. The young man without any religious training suddenly became the most powerful Islamic cleric in Jerusalem.” (Ibid.; pp. 1–2.)
15. “A few months later, in December of 1921, the British administration established a Supreme Muslim Council with full control over the Waqf (religious trusts) and the Shariah (Muslim religious courts). Haj Amin al-Husseini was appointed President of the body. Within a year, the man who organized multiple massacres, became the leader of all the most important bodies in the colony: religious (as a Mufti), legal (Shariah) and financial (Waqf). A 1937 Royal Commission report noted al-Husseini had ‘no legal limitation to his power.’” (Ibid.; p. 2.)
16. “Controlling a spectacular sum of money and the right to appoint Palestinian Islamic preachers, al-Husseini built a ‘political machine’ that brought the religious and political establishment under his domination. Through them, he was able to arouse religious fanaticism against Jews and the West. His preachers urged their flock to ‘go out and murder the Jewish infidel in the name of the holy Koran,’ constantly declaring that ‘he who kills a Jew is assured of a place in the next world.’”’ (Idem.)
17. The Grand Mufti’s hatred of Jews (and subsequent alliance with the Third Reich) was matched by that of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna. (For more about the Muslim Brotherhood, see—among other programs—FTR#’s 343, 455, 456, 473, 513, 514, 518. Use the search function linked at the top of this description to find more information about the Muslim Brotherhood.) “Mufti hated Jews for the same reasons as Hasan al-Banna in Egypt. Jews, especially the arriving Zionist immigrants, brought a modem, Western/European way of life, a direct opposite of what the fundamentalists wanted. Just as Banna, Husseini felt personally threatened by Western culture. ‘The Jews have changed the life of Palestine in such a way that it must inevitably lead to the destruction of our race .... The Jewish girls who run around in shorts demoralize our youth by their mere presence.??
?” (Idem.)
18. In the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is interesting to note that the United Nations’ establishment of Israel followed a precedent of international law established in 1922. “The year 1922 brought the worst possible news to al-Husseini. The League of Nations recognized the land west of the Jordan River as the ‘Jewish National Home.’ The British White Paper of 1922, divided Palestine with 77% to the east of the Jordan river given to Arabs, while the 23% to the west left for the Jewish people. Shortly thereafter, the League of Nations confirmed the division in its mandate system, urging Great Britain, as the Mandatory power, to ‘facilitate Jewish immigration,’ as well as ‘close settlement of Jews on the land.’ The League of Nations even mandated that no ‘territory shall be ceded or leased to, or in any way placed under the control of, the Government of any foreign Power,’ thus rejecting any Arab claims to what has since become known as Israel, West Bank and Gaza. Indeed, the Arab people are never even mentioned in the Mandate.” (Idem.)
19. “Sherif Hussein’s two sons were thus appointed Kings. Faisal became the King of Iraq, while Abdullah the ruler of Transjordan. The Hashemi clan originally fled from the Arabian Peninsula to Cyprus, but then settled in Transjordan, leading the fight against the British. Making Abdullah the King of Transjordan satisfied the Hashemites after the embarrassing loss Mecca. But as far as al-Husseini was concerned, it wasn’t bad enough that he didn’t get a state, but his worst enemies in the Arab world — the Hashemites — were now ruling two countries (Transjordan and Iraq), while Zionists had their goal legitimized by the League of Nations. The Kings of Iraq and Transjordan –despite seeing their father backstabbed by the English — were moderates, friendly to the West and accepting of the Jewish state in the Middle East. As the world was split into fascist and democratic camps in the 1930’s and 1940’s, al-Husseini and Hassan al-Banna found themselves on the opposite side of the Hashemites.” (Idem.)
20. More about the Grand Mufti’s manipulation and exploitation of the geo-political and colonial dynamics of the Middle East between the World Wars: “The Mufti, who supported establishment of Greater Syria in what is now Israel, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, West Bank and Gaza, decided to focus his efforts on taking over Palestine and Transjordan, while undermining the British and the Hashemites in Iraq. Years later, UK’s Colonial Secretary Ormsby-Gore would report to the House of Lords: ‘The Mufti ... is playing his own dynastic game, and that game undoubtedly is to become not merely the sovereign of Palestine, not merely to be crowned or uncrowned King of Palestine, but first head of Palestine, then Palestine and Transjordan combined, and then the whole of Syria, and, of course, in that position to be regarded as the leader of the Sunni world. ... He is a man of quite unlimited political ambition. He was a Turkish Staff Officer (during World War I) — and incidentally a Turk who knew him thought he was the blackest-hearted man in the Middle East.’” (Ibid.; p. 3.)
21. Turning on his British benefactors, the Grand Mufti gravitated toward Hitler. As will be seen, al-Husseini became one of Nazi Germany’s most important allies, and played a role in bringing about the Holocaust. “Within weeks of Adolf Hitler’s ascendance to power. Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini contacted the German counsel-general in Palestine. With exception of funding anti-Semitic riots, Germans rejected the Arab’s overtures until 1937, when Adolf Eichmann and Herbert Hagen were sent to Palestine to establish a framework to provide Husseini with military and financial aid by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.” (Idem.)
22. “By then, the Mufti had already proven his anti-Jewish credentials to the Germans by organizing a three-year long riots and massacres. On April 19,1936, a crowd of Arabs stumbled upon Jews in the town of Jaffa. Having been incited by Mufti-spread rumors that Zionists were killing Muslims, the crowd decided to kill three of the Jews they met. Six days later, the Arab Higher Committee was created, with al-Husseini presiding over the new body. The committee openly endorsed past violence and began organizing future disobedience. On May 5, the British colonial authorities warned al-Husseini against committing illegal acts, but did not appear particularly decisive. Within weeks, massive violence broke out. By October 1936, nearly 300 people were killed and another 1,100 wounded.” (Idem.)
23. Note that the British coddled the Grand Mufti and eventually reversed the Balfour Declaration (which recognized the Jews’ aspirations for a homeland in the Middle East.) “Colonial forces arrested a few pawns and one major leader, but took no action against the Mufti. The New York Times reported on June 14,1936 that al-Husseini had succeeded ‘in convincing experienced high British civil servants that he is working for the government’s interests [and that] it was in the interest of the government that he should also be president of the new Arab High Committee,’ so that ‘Haj Amin el-Husseini enjoys the government’s complete confidence as its unofficial adviser on the Arab side of the situation .... The government believes that he and only he is in a position to appease the Moslem masses; therefore it gives him every support while at the same time playing into his hands.’” (Idem.)
24. “Continuing its policy of siding with the Mufti, in June the Brits arrested scores of members of the Defense Party sponsored by the rival Nashashibi clan, despite lack of any evidence that the Nashashibis were involved in the massacres. Ninety percent of Arabs in the Sinai concentration camp belonged to the Defense Party, with another 10% coming from smaller political movements. None of the Husseini-backed people were sent to the concentration camp.” (Idem.)
25. The cynicism and anti-Semitism of the British toward the Jews was matched by the Soviet Union and the Communist Party: “The UK was not the only power helping the Mufti in 1936. The USSR-sponsored Communist Party of Palestine also did its part. After the 1929 massacres (including the slaughter of 68 Jews in Hebron), the Communist Party issued a statement that ‘revolutionary movement without pogroms [anti-Semitic riots] is impossible.’ The Communists even considered the Mufti ‘too moderate’ in his fight against Jews.” (Idem.)
26. A member of the Communist Party became the intelligence chief for the Mufti’s military cadre during Husseini’s pogroms. “In the run-up to 1936–39, the Palestinian leader began coordinating organization of anti-Jewish violence. In November 1935, Communists declared that Zionists were killing Arab fellaheen, as part of the Mufti’s propaganda campaign to spark Arab rage against the Jews. On the eve of the first riots, Communists met al-Husseini to work out the final terms of their roles in the upcoming violence. Communist Party member Nimr Uda became the Intelligence chief for Mufti’s military units. Another Communist representative, Fuad Nasir, was named deputy to Abdul Qadir Husseini, commander of Arab fighters in southern West Bank.” (Ibid.; p. 4.)
27. The British Peel Commission violated the League of Nations Mandate regarding the Jewish homeland. Eventually, the British reneged completely on the Balfour Declaration. “By 1937, Britain realized that the Mufti was sponsoring the violence not just against Jews, but against the English as well. Al-Husseini fled Jerusalem and settled in Lebanon. So glad were the British to see the Mufti leave that they did not even bother to ask the French powers governing Lebanon to extradite al-Husseini. Meanwhile, in an attempt to please the Arabs, UK’s Peel Commission violated the League of Nations Mandate and offered a proposal to divide the land designated as the ‘Jewish National Home’ by the
League of Nations Mandate of 1922 despite a specific mandate prohibition against such division. Instead, under the Peel Commission proposal of 1937, only a small part of the land would become the Jewish state. A year later, the Peel Commission issued another proposal, with even less land offered to Jews. Some time later, the British issued the White Paper of 1939 rejecting the idea of a Jewish National Home and severely restricting Jewish immigration. It was hoped for in London that such concessions to Arab nationalists would appease al-Husseini and his supporters. Yet, only two years after the White Paper, the Mufti would come back to strike the British again.” (Idem.)
28. The Grand Mufti’s alliance with Hitler permitted his forces to attempt to seize Iraq on behalf of the Axis: “In 1940, it looked as if Hitler’s armada was unstoppable. Having already conquered France, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg, Hitler and his friends in Italy, Spain and occupied countries were clearly the rulers of continental Europe. Hitler had also allied himself with the USSR under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 which divided Eastern Europe by giving the Baltic States and parts of Poland and Romania (as well as Finland, which Joseph Stalin couldn’t occupy) to the USSR, while letting the Germans take over western Poland, Romania and other European nations. Meanwhile, the Japanese were the dominant force of Asia, seemingly set to impose their control on that continent. Britain’s Winston Churchill stood virtually alone against the Fascist onslaught, with the United States mired in radical isolationism, refusing to take part in what many Americans saw as a European war.” (Idem.)
29. The one region where the British still had significant influence was the Middle East. Hitler set out to change that. Husseini wanted to get rid of the Hashemites. Both men wanted to get rid of the Jews and the Brits. It was a marriage made in heaven.” (Idem.)
30. “Despite a powerful Navy, the United Kingdom and its army was modest in size and spread thin throughout the Empire. Middle East and especially Iraq seemed like the next pawn to fall to the Third Reich.” (Idem.)
31. “Britain responded with severe economic sanctions which, coupled with UK’s defeat of German forces in North Africa and pressure from the Iraqi royal family, brought down the pro-German government on January 31,1941. Kaylani and other pro-Axis Iraqi, under the influence from al-Husseini, conspired to murder the Abdul-Illah. Two months after the Kaylani left government, the regent of Iraq fled the country and the old Prime Minister was back in power.” (Idem.)
32. “In 1940, King Ghazi (son of King Faisal I) died, leaving only his four-year-old son to govern. Emir Abdul-Illah, the regent for the young Iraqi King, felt the need to bring Rashid Ali al-Kaylani into the government as the Prime Minister, despite the latter’s support for Nazi Germany and links with al-Husseini. The new head of state immediately shifted the policies of Iraq in favor of Nazi Germany, guaranteeing supply of natural resources to Hitler, as well as refusing to cut its tied with Italy. The former Mufti of Jerusalem and his surrogates frequently acted as the government’s representatives with foreigners. Kaylani also asked from Hitler the right to ‘deal with Jews’ in Arab states — a request that was granted.” (Idem.)
33. “Britain responded with severe economic sanctions which, coupled with UK’s defeat of German forces in North Africa and pressure from the Iraqi royal family, brought down the pro-German government on January 31,1941. Kaylani and other pro-Axis Iraqi, under the influence from al-Husseini, conspired to murder the Abdul-Illah. Two months after the Kaylani left government, the regent of Iraq fled the country and the old Prime Minister was back in power.” (Ibid.; pp. 4–5.)
34. Note that the Grand Mufti’s protégé Kaylani fled to the allegedly neutral Saudi Arabia. (For more about the role of fascists in founding the modern state of Saudi Arabia, see—among other programs—FTR#361.) “As one of its first acts, the new administration sent its artillery to attack UK’s Royal Air Force in Habaniyya, causing the Brits to respond by invading Basra. The hoped-for support from Nazi Germany never came and Kaylani fled to Saudi Arabia. [Italics are Mr. Emory’s.]” (Ibid.; p. 5)
35. “Haj Amin al-Husseini, who issued a fatwa (Islamic religious ruling) calling on all Muslims to help pro-Axis government in Iraq, became one of England’s most wanted men. In May 1941, a group of Jewish fighters, including David Raziel, the leader of the right-wing Irgun (predecessor of today’s Likud Party in Israel), set out for Iraq to assassinate the former Mufti on a mission sponsored by the Churchill administration. The mission, however, ended prematurely when Raziel was killed by a German plane. Realizing the threat to his life, al-Husseini fled to Europe dressed as a woman.” (Idem.)
36. “He was officially received by Adolf Hitler on November 28,1941, who agreed to establish a bureau for al-Husseini which was used to spread propaganda on behalf of Nazi Germany, organize spy rings in Europe and the Middle East, and most importantly, establish Muslim Nazi SS divisions and Wehrmacht units in Bosnia, the Balkans, North Africa and Nazi-occupied parts of the Soviet Union. After the meeting, the Mufti was also named SS Gruppenfuehrer by Heinrich Himmler and referred to as the ‘Fuhrer of the Arab World’ by Adolf Hitler himself.” (Idem.)
37. “The largest Muslim Nazi SS unit was the 13th division known as ‘Hanjar.’ Husseini also organized smaller, less efficient units, including the 21st Waffen SS division known Skanderbeg . . . and the 23rd Waffen SS division known as Kama and made up mostly of Albanian Muslims. Thus, the Hitler’s Mufti organized or helped to organize three out of 27 Waffen SS divisions formed before 1945 (eleven other SS divisions were formed in 1945, but most of these were of questionable caliber and accepted soldiers of questionable skill). According to the Encyclopedia of Holocaust, Husseini ‘organized in record time’ Croatian units that went on to massacre hundreds of thousands of Serbian Orthodox Christians. Jacenovac, the third largest death camp where over 200,000 people met their death, was run by Croatian Ante Pavelic with the aid of al-Husseini. In all, at least 800,000 Yugoslavian civilians were murdered by pro-Axis regimes ofUtasche and Pavelic, with significant aid from the units established by the ‘Fuhrer of the Arab World.’ Tens of thousands of Jewish people outside Yugoslavia also perished when the Mufti persuaded not to trade them for German POW’s held by the Allies.” (Idem.)
38. “Al-Husseini opened a North African Bureau in Germany, whose goal was to recruit 500,000 Arab soldiers from Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. The plan failed when the German forces were forced to withdraw from much of North Africa after a successful British operation.” (Idem.)
39. “However, an Arab Legion was founded and fought under the German flag. The Arab soldiers had hoped to fight in the Middle East, but were instead sent to the Russian front, where they were completely wiped out while fighting in the Caucasus region. Some time later, in response to the British decision to create a Jewish Brigade made up of some of the 26,000 Palestinian Jews who had fought under the United Kingdom’s flag, the Mufti convinced the Germans to create an Arab Brigade. The unit, however, either did not fight or was not very efficient because very little is known about it.” (Idem.)
40. The Mufti recruited from among Soviet Muslims. For more about this connection, see—among other questions—FTR#’s 414, 51
8.) “The Mufti also made a particularly strong effort to recruit Soviet Muslims. ‘It was largely due to Haj Amin’s propaganda that on the arrival of German armies in the northern Caucasus in 1942, five indigenous tribes — the Chechens, the Ingushes, the Balkars, the Karachais, and the Kabardines –welcomed them with bread and salt,’ wrote Joseph Schechtman in The Mufti and the Fuhrer. Stalin’s response was deadly. Caucasian Muslims, including nearly all Chechens and Ingush, were exiled from their land, with up to a third dying as a result of inhumane treatment by Soviet authorities.” (Idem.)
41. “The Mufti was similarly instrumental in the recruitment of the Azerbaijani battalion, which ‘proved their valor, were included in German Storm Troops and decorated by the German Army,’ according to a November 1943 broadcast by DNB. The Mufti’s representatives in Central Asia recruited some Muslim fighters for Nazi Germany there as well, despite the widespread support of the majority of Central Asian Muslims for the plight of the Jews during the Holocaust.” (Ibid.; pp. 5–6.)
42. The program highlights the Grand Mufti’s role in precipitating the Holocaust: “The Mufti’s hatred of the West was matched only by his hate of the Jews. It is not a coincidence that Germany suddenly abandoned the policy of expelling Jews and adopted far harsher methods a short time after the Mufti arrived in Germany. When Haj Amin came to Germany again, the Nazis decided to execute the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem — the Holocaust. ‘The Mufti was one of the initiators of the systematic extermination of European Jewry,’ reported Eichmann’s deputy. Dieter Wisliceny. ‘[He had] played a role in the decision to exterminate the European Jews. The importance of this role must not be disregarded.... The Mufti was one of the initiators of the systematic extermination of European Jewry.’ We do not know if al-Husseini played a major role in shaping the Final Solution. ‘There is, however, abundant first-hand evidence of the part the Mufti played in making foolproof the ban on emigration (of Jews out of Germany),’ wrote Joseph Schechtman.” (Ibid.; p. 6.)
43. Al-Husseini escaped from Germany to Palestine at the end of the war, and was received as a hero. Note that his escape was aided by Abwehr agent Youssef Nada, a Nazi intelligence agent and the head of Bank Al Taqwa. (For more about this see FTR#’s 416, 456. In FTR#513, we saw that Nada is a cousin of Yasser Arafat, who is al-Husseini’s nephew.) Note also that the Grand Mufti was the first leader of the Palestinian national movement. This is important to remember when assessing Israeli attitudes toward the Palestinians. “When the war ended, al-Husseini returned to the Middle East as a hero. On October 1, 1948, he was proclaimed the President of the government of All-Palestine. The government was, however, fictional because it did not control any land and was recognized by only a handful of Arab nations. In 1959, the ‘government’ was disbanded by its sponsor, Egypt.” (Idem.)
44. Note that the Islamofascist allies of the Nazis such as the Grand Mufti and the Muslim Brotherhood’s Hassan al-Banna traveled in the company of secular Arab fascist groups. The Baath parties of both Syria and Iraq were profoundly influenced by the secular Arab fascists. In the passage that follows, it is interesting (and perhaps significant) that Sami al-Joundi was one of the founders of the Baath party in Syria. The family of Jamal Daniel was among the Baath founders in both Syria and Iraq. Daniel is a business partner of Neil Bush. (For more about the Bush/Daniel connection, see FTR#’s 438 and 508.) “Support for Nazism was not limited to the former Mufti. ‘We admired the Nazis. We were immersed in reading Nazi literature and books.... We were the first who thought of a translation of Mein Kampf. Anyone who lived in Damascus at that time was witness to the Arab inclination toward Nazism,’ recalled Sami al-Joundi, one of the founders of Syria’s ruling Ba’ath Party. Indeed, a popular WWII song was heard in the Middle East featuring words: ‘Bissama Allah, oria alard Hitler’ – ‘In heaven Allah, on earth Hitler.’ Picking up the theme of the book, posters were put up in Arab markets and elsewhere proclaiming, ‘In heaven Allah is thy ruler; on earth Adolph Hitler.’ John Gunther of Inside Asia reported: ‘The greatest contemporary Arab hero is probably Hitler’ . . . .” (Idem.)
45. For a visual perspective on the fascist/Islamist connection, check out the photograph above. It is a picture of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rally on 4/15/2005. PIJ is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood—a link discussed in, among other programs, FTR#’s 473, 514. Do the participants in this rally appear to be making an Islamic gesture?!
Uncle Sam and Il Duce
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