Fact Sheet

The USHMM biography of Amin al-Husayni falsely states that he “discouraged violence and encouraged cooperation with the British authorities.” It gives equal weight to facts, and their denial:  “conflicting interpretations have portrayed him as an instigator against the Jews and British or an opponent of violence as a means of achieving Arab aims.”

The Facts:

1.  In 1920 he was convicted by a British court and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for his part in a murderous rampage resulting in 216 Jewish casualties.

2.    In 1922, he precipitated a second anti-Jewish riot with the translation of an Arabic edition of  The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. (Dalin, op. cit)

3.   In 1929, he accused Jews of endangering mosques, including al-Aqksa. The call went out “ Slaughter the Jews!”, while  Husayni disseminated pictures of the Jewish  victims, falsely claiming that they were Arabs murdered by Jews.  Over 100 Jews were murdered in Hebron and Safed.

4.    In 1936-39, the Mufti organized riots, using funds and munitions supplied by the Nazis. He led a campaign of terror against Jews and moderate Arabs. (Kuntzel, Jihad and Jew-hatred, p.21,31)

5.   In 1937, Eichmann personally came to Palestine to deliver funds to the Mufti.  By 1938, he was on the payroll of Abwehr II, the German counterintelligence and sabotage division.

6..   Following an assassination attempt on the British Inspector-General of the Palestine Police Force, the Grand Mufti was forced into exile in Syria in 1937.

7.   In 1941, the Mufti played a key role in orchestrating a Nazi-backed coup in Iraq. He blamed the Iraqi Jews when the British crushed the coup, instigating the Farhud, a pogrom against Baghdad’s Jews in which 180 Jews were killed, and thousands injured. (Hayyim J. Cohen, “the Anti-Jewish Farhud in Baghdad, 1941,” Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 3, Oct. 1966 p.2-17)  The USHMM’s article on the Farhud mentions Husayni’s role, but the article on Husayni does not. (Farhud article, http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10007277)

8.      On November 28, 1941, in a face to face meeting with Hitler, Husayni obtained Hitler’s pledge to extend the Final Solution to the Jews of the Middle East. (Reference: notes of the meeting are in Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918-1945, Series D, Vol. XIII, p. 881. available at the USHMM library)

(References for all these facts available – please ask for backgrounder with references)