Das Arabische Buro: der Grossmufti
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among three candidates nominated by Moslem leaders. In
1929, he repaid Sir Herbert and the British mandatory government by again defying the law and instigating anti-Jewish
attacks throughout Palestine. In 1936 Haj Amin founded the
Arab Higher Committee to help promote his campaign for
"Arab independence." A series of revolts, massacres, and riots
followed immediately; the Committee was outlawed. A report
in the files of the German High Command revealed that the
Mufti was enabled to spearhead Axis propaganda in the Middle East: "Only through the funds made available by Germany to the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem was it possible to carry
out the revolt in Palestine." The Mufti took this opportunity
to have hundreds of his political enemies liquidated; those refusing to make "donations" were also murdered by henchmen. By the time Haj Amin had finished fighting for "independence," no spokesman for genuine Arab independence
remained. By 1937, however, the revolution had run its course,
some of its leaders were exiled to Seychelles, and the Mufti
was forced to flee again.
THE IRAQI REVOLT
HAJ AMIN spent two years as a fugitive in Lebanon and
Syria, then suddenly turned up in Baghdad, where Iraq's proGerman Arabs vied with one another to entertain him. The
Iraqi Parliament voted him a grant of $72,000. He received
funds from the Iraqi Secret Service. Under a check-off system
all Iraqi officials and civil servants paid him a percentage of
their salaries. Funds flowed in from various political and charitable groups. Gifts were received from Egypt and Ibn Saud,
King of Saudi Arabia. The Mufti was also financed heavily by
the Nazis and the Italians.
Haj Amin lavished huge funds on the men he had placed
in office, and gained enormous influence over Iraqi officials,