Informed circled today interpreted the intensification of Nazi agitation in Syria and Iraq, coupled with the Axis occupation of Bengazi, as fore shadowing a new Axis drive towards Palestine and the Suez Canal.
In connection with the coup d’etat in Iraq led by Rashid Ali-Bey Gailani which overthrew the government of Seyid Taha al-Hashimi, the name of Haj Amin el Husseini, exiled ex-Mufti of Jerusalem and leader of the Palestine Arab nationalists, came into the limelight today.
The Times declared: “It is more then possible he assisted Rashid in the intrigues to overthrow the Government. The Mufti has become quite a feature in the Iraqi political landscape and is believed also to be dabbling in Syrian affairs.”
The Times asserted it had been learned that the Nazi leader behind the troubles in Syria was named van Heuting.
The ex-Mufti, who fled to Syria and then to Iraq during the Palestine revolt of 1939 to avoid arrest by the British authorities, was reported to be working with Axis agents to spread anti-British feeling in the Near East. He was said to have at his disposal Arab propagandists trained in Berlin for agitation among the Arabs.
Activities of Gestapo agents in Syria and Iraq have been intensified in recent weeks. The British authorities have received information that the Nazis are pouring funds into Syria to finance propaganda among certain Arab organizations known to be pro-German. These include the National Arab Youth, the Arab Group of National Action and the Arab club, the last of which comprises mainly persons who are German-educated and avowed Arabian National Socialists.
(A competent Arab observer who reached Istanbul, Turkey, told the correspondent of the New York Times there two weeks ago that he saw posters pasted up in the market place in a Syrian city reading: “In Heaven Allah is thy ruler, on earth Adolf Hitler will rule us,” These posters, carrying a huge swastika, appeared in the early morning hours and were promptly torn down, but by the afternoon they had been replaced, The whole country is a hotbed of Nazi propaganda, he said.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
