Muhammad Amin al-Husseini
El-Hajj Muhammad Amin al-Husseini[note 1] was a Palestinian[note 2] Arab nationalist, Sunni Muslim and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem back when it was part of the British Mandate for Palestine.
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Turning towards Mecca |
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Aside from being a jihadist terrorist, Husseini is perhaps most well-known for his friendship with Adolf Hitler. He was also one of the leaders of what would become Palestinian nationalism and was a sort of mentor figure to Yasser Arafat.
Hangin' with Hitler
Given their mutual hatred for the Jewish people, Hitler was the first European leader to recognize the proposed Arab state of Palestine and Husseini agreed to refuse asylum to Jews attempting to flee to Jerusalem, as well as helping recruit for Hitler's Muslim SS division, the Handschar, mostly composed of Bosnian Muslims.
It is alleged that Husseini was one of the friends of Hitler to propose the Final Solution and he had plans for a Holocaust of his own in the Middle East, which Hitler vowed to assist him with having purged Europe of Jewry. At any rate, Husseini did not like Jews.
An original gangsta
Husseini spent his time as Grand Mufti preaching Jihad and organizing his followers into a terrorist organization called the Black Hand[note 3], which he used to carry out attacks against Jews living in Palestine and praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
His men were put through SS training and visited the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, which Husseyni himself had visited. He claimed afterwards to have been very impressed by everything he had seen.
In 1948, King Abdullah I of Jordan, the British-backed Head of State during the Mandate Period, replaced Husseini with his long-term rival Husam al-din Jarallah as Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. Three years later, the King was coincidentally assassinated, on the eve of secret peace talks with Israel.
The successor of King Abdullah I, King Talal, banished Husseini to the Egyptian city of Heliopolis, where it's believed that he continued to mastermind anti-Jewish pogroms and terrorist attacks until his move to Lebanon after the dissolution of the Palestinian government.
Comeuppance
Muhammad Amin-al Husseini died in Beirut on the fourth of July in 1974. Proving that karma is a bitch, his wish to be buried on the Temple Mount in the East of Jerusalem was refused because Israel had already captured it and said, "no."
He was buried in Beirut and two years later, the Falange sacked his villa and stole his files and archives. No monument was raised to his memory, but al-Husseini remains an influence on Jihadists and anti-Semites to this day.
Notes
- Oh sweet Jesus! His name was Muhammad Amin al-Husseini!? It's the coming of the Antichrist I tells ya!
- A slightly anachronistic use of the term. Back then, "Palestinian" wasn't in common use yet.
- Notice how no organization of that name ever is a charity building orphanages?