The remarks of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem about the role of the former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in the Holocaust have engendered a massive, and mostly critical response. It is important to define in more precise terms the role of the Mufti in those tragic days.

Prime Minister Netanyahu was incorrect in asserting in his speech that Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem, gave Hitler the idea of annihilating the Jews of Europe during World War II. “Hitler didn’t want to exterminate the Jews at the time, he wanted to expel the Jews,” said Netanyahu, stating that the Mufti protested to Hitler that “they’ll all come here,” referring to Palestine. “‘So what shall I do with them?’” Prime Minister Netanyahu quoted Hitler as asking al-Husseini. “He said, ‘Burn them.”