Via The Jerusalem Post:
Germany will stand firmly by the Arabs of Palestine in their fight against the "criminal" Balfour Declaration, was the main message conveyed in the telegram that was recently uncovered in the archives of Israel's National Library. The rare document, which the library assesses dates back to 1943, was written by infamous SS commander Heinrich Himmler and sent to Haj Amin al-Husseini, who served as the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem between 1921 to 1937.
The Nazi commander, who was one of the main masterminds behind the 'Final Solution' (the Nazi regime's term for their plan to exterminate all of Europe's Jews), wrote to the Muslim leader that "the joint recognition of the enemy, and the joint battle against him are what creates the firm allegiance between Germany and freedom-seeking Muslims all over the world.
Himmler went on to tell the Mufti, who presided over the Palestinian territories during a particularly tumultuous period for the British Mandate ruling in the area, that his country was closely following the Palestinian resistance against the Balfour Declaration (the historic British document penned by Arthur James Balfour, the UK's Foreign Secretary at the time, which openly supported "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.")
"The National-Socialist movement of the great Germany has made its fight against world Jewry a guiding principle since its very beginning," Himmler wrote. "For that reason it [the movement] has been closely following the battle of freedom-seeking Arabs- and especially in Palestine- against the Jewish invaders," the Nazi leader added.
He finished his warm letter to the Mufti by writing: "In this spirit, I am happy to wish you on the first anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, warm wishes for the continuation of your battle until the big victory."
This newly revealed document sheds more light on the strong connections historians have affirmed before between the Mufti and the top hierarchy of the Nazi regime. In 1937, the British Mandate sought to arrest al-Husseini due to his involvement in the Arab uprising. The Mufti fled to Lebanon and from there to Iraq, where he joined a pro-Nazi group that rebelled against the Iraqi regime and carried out a military coup in April 1941. When the coup failed, al-Husseini escaped to Nazi Germany, arriving in Berlin in November 1941.
Upon witnessing Nazi Germany's streak of victories at the time, the Mufti decided that he had to gain the close support of Nazi Germany's leader Adolf Hitler. Al-Huseeini and the Fuhrer's 90-minutes-long meeting was especially cordial, with the Mufti presenting himself to Hitler not just as leader of the national Palestinian movement but also as the leader of all Arabs and the representative of Muslims worldwide, in an attempt to convince the Nazi leader of the natural allegiance he shared with Germany.
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