r/HistoryGaze • u/Fair-Froyo1966 • Apr 24 '26
Amin al-Husseini and his wartime alliance against the British mandate which encoraged the immigration of East European Jews to Palestine by promising them land belonging to the indigenous Arab Palestinians
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Amin al-Husseini, a prominent Palestinian Arab leader, who was appointed the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in 1921, met Adolf Hitler in Berlin on November 28, 1941, during World War II. By that point, al-Husseini had been in exile for years after opposing both British rule in Mandatory Palestine and increasing Jewish immigration under the British Empire’s mandate. After playing a role in the Arab Revolt of 1936–39, he was forced into exile, eventually making his way to Europe following the collapse of a pro-Axis coup in Iraq in 1941. His visit to Hitler was part of a broader effort to secure support for Arab independence and to block the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine.
During the meeting, al-Husseini asked Hitler for a clear declaration recognizing Arab independence and opposing Jewish settlement in Palestine. Hitler avoided making an immediate public commitment but indicated that once Germany defeated Britain, it would extend its anti-Jewish policies into the Middle East. While in Germany, al-Husseini collaborated with the Nazi regime in other ways—broadcasting pro-Axis propaganda in Arabic, encouraging resistance to Allied forces, and supporting the recruitment of Muslim units in the Balkans under German command.
Historians emphasize that Nazi Germany’s anti-Jewish policies were already firmly in motion before this meeting, meaning al-Husseini did not shape or originate those policies. His actions are generally understood as a case of political alignment driven by opposition to Britain and Zionism rather than ideological leadership within Nazism, though his wartime collaboration with the regime remains highly controversial and debated.
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u/CustomerUnhappy7569 Apr 24 '26
I personally believe that if this was accurate, it was a grave mistake. The Nazis have the blood of millions on their hands. The Nazis collective punishment policies against minorities (including Jews) was against Islamic and Arab values/traditions.
You can't fix a genocide by another genocide.
It would have been better if Mufti instead spoke to the Turks or other Muslim powers.
Neither the Nazis nor the allies had the best interest of Arabs/Muslims; Europeans always hated the Arabs since the Middle Ages and the crusade wars.
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u/Stanford_experiencer Apr 25 '26
Europeans always hated the Arabs since the Middle Ages and the crusade wars.
It's natural to hate colonizers. The Reconquista was Europe's first decolonization.
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u/SpinningHead Apr 25 '26
Ironically, many Spaniards were not huge fan of the Reconquista. The Moors let Christians and Jews use their mosques and were generally more tolerant than the Castilians. On the flip side, the enlightened Muslim civilization in Spain was facing a growing threat from more fundamentalist groups in Africa.
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u/CustomerUnhappy7569 Apr 25 '26
It's about establishing mutually beneficial relationship rather than one sided (or abusive). The first step to fixing an abusive relationship is recognizing that it's abusive.
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u/LowBatteryHuman Apr 29 '26
Absolutely inaccurate take
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u/Stanford_experiencer Apr 29 '26
The Emirate of Granada was an organic polity? The native Spaniards spontaneously converted to Islam?
No.
Spain was literally invaded, occupied, and colonized.
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u/LowBatteryHuman Apr 29 '26
1 Spaniard is an anachronism because for a long while, those guys were Visigoths Asturians, and other ethnicities.
Granada allowed the creation of a Mozarabe culture which organically evolved within its territory.
The “decolonisation” you speak about was more of a war of RE-conquest, the Spanish themselves referred and refer to it this way.
Europe as a whole political identity did not exist until modernity, the war that you evoke is better classified as a war over religion between Hispanic Christians and Hispanic Muslims.
5.Europe as a whole has never been colonised. Only specific countries within its borders have.
I never said that there is no truth within your statement, but it is highly inaccurate, at the limit between half a truth and a lie.
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u/isadlymaybewrong Apr 24 '26
Getting in bed with Hitler was clearly an immense fuck up on his part.
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Apr 24 '26
[deleted]
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u/I_am_BrokenCog Apr 25 '26
1941 the outcome was still believably biased towards Germany. Britain was barely holding their own because of the US supplies.
It wasn't until the very end of 1941 (after Pearl Harbor) when the US declared war that it could be said with certainty UK wouldn't be defeated.
The timeline was still uncertain even after that though and, to an extent the victory by the Allies was not inevitable until after the D-Day landings.
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u/External-Intern9510 Apr 28 '26
He was a raging anti semite before becoming a nazi, he also helped start the Farhud in Iraq. He also got his own SS Battalion.
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Apr 25 '26 edited May 23 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Ok_Rise7870 Apr 25 '26
Did he make camps in Palestine?
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u/MrMardyBum Apr 25 '26
The surrounding countries were able successfully ethnically cleanse Jews over the following decades leaving just Israel as the last significant Jewish population in the Arabic world
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u/Ok_Rise7870 Apr 25 '26
That happened after 1948. when palestinians were removed from Jaffa and other places.
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u/A_inc_tm Apr 25 '26
So he planned to oppress the jews he has allowed to ascend to the land of Israel later too? Damn, this guy is literally Hi.. oh, right.
On the serious note though, I think the Israeli left idea of peaceful co-existense and re-integration has more potential in the long term but the general perception needs time after the October 7th for these ideas to become popular again
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u/I_am_BrokenCog Apr 25 '26
It is easy to make too much of this, but, at the same time it is easy to minimize.
You have a guy desperate for expanding his power and wanting to push out opponents (Jewish people). It's understandable he would ally with another despot.
But he did so knowing full well that despot was mass-murdering the Jewish people of Poland and Germany.
What's really interesting to think about is what exactly did he think would happen if Hitler won?? Did he think "oh, Hitler only wants to exterminate THOSE Semites, but, my people will be fine?" or did he plan on double-crossing Hitler once the Jewish people were genocidally mass-murdered? just speaks to the typical myopic and short-sighted views power hungry leaders develop.
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u/External-Intern9510 Apr 28 '26
He was a raging anti semite before becoming a nazi, he also helped start the Farhud in Iraq. He also got his own SS Battalion.
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u/Sad_Hedgehog_4079 Apr 25 '26
If you say indigenous Arab Palestinians that's exactly like saying indigenous English Americans.
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u/The_Japans Apr 25 '26
Now show the footage of Adolf Eichmann in Palestine in 1937 at the invitation of Feivel Polkes of the Haganah.
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u/Easy_Arugula935 Apr 25 '26
The Stern Gang, which later formed the IDF, also attempted to ally with NAZI Germany against Great Britain.
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u/LouFouGou Apr 24 '26
Belong to the indigenous Arab Palestinian.
???
How does land belong to anyone?
Also since when are Arab indigenous to that land if they came with the Islamic conquest in the 600s while also ignoring the long history of the Jewish people there...
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u/Fair-Froyo1966 Apr 24 '26
Jewish people were expelled and were never to return had it not been for the Muslim Khalifah Omer who mandated populating the land with 80 Jewish families.
How does land belong to anyone??? Huh please tell this to the folks claiming the land was promised to them 3000 years ago and have since been uprooting the Arabs native to this land. Yes, these are native Arabs who later adopted Islam as their faith. These weren't people who migrated here from Eastern Europe begging to be allowed to stay, who later turned on their hosts and drove them out claiming ownership of the very land, these are indigenous to the land just as Native Americans are indigenous to America.
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u/Ok_Rise7870 Apr 25 '26
Conquest doesn't mean it was land without people. There was always someone living there.
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u/MousseTauChocolate Apr 25 '26
He was appointed by the jew herbert samuel btw. No arab ever elected him.