Netanyahu's Speech: Hajja Amin Al-Husseini Of Jerusalem

On Tuesday evening, the Prime Minister addressed the World Zionist Congress and declared that Hajj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem between 1921 and 1937, had suggested to Adolf Hitler to “Burn [the Jews].” The Premier continued and declared that it was al-Husseini who in fact convinced Hitler, not to expel the Jews, but rather to exterminate them.

Now as has been made clear by several historians- and political opponents who have joined in the chorus, al-Husseini did not truly take as active a role in the Final Solution as Netanyahu might have suggested. However, here I believe we must look at the big picture. What Netanyahu’s speech does do is highlight the culpability of the Arab leadership and of the majority of Arabs of British

Indeed, al-Husseini, who spent the Second World War in Berlin serving as a consultant to Hitler at one time even touring Auschwitz with glee. For what it’s worth, al-Husseini looked forward to “solv[ing] the Jewish problem…according to the scientific methods innovated by Germany in the handling of its Jews” upon his return to Palestine. Ultimately, al-Husseini’s evil designs for Palestine’s Jewish population were never realized and was even sought after by Allied authorities for prosecution during the Nuremburg

Despite Jewish acceptance and David Ben-Gurion’s understanding that “a Jewish State must be established immediately,” Arab leadership denounced any form of partition and/or of granting equal rights to Jews. As a result, the plan could not be implemented, and a Jewish State that could have saved a, tragically, unknown number of Jewish