Taken from The Scribe, No. 31 – February 1989

Mufti Asks Ban on Jewish Emigration as Gesture to Arabs
Berlin, July 27 1944

To the Reichsfüehrer SS and Minister of the Interior, H. Himmler, Berlin

Reichsfüehrer:

In my letter to you of June 5, 1944, I referred back to our conversation in which I reported to you on the inclusion of Jews in the exchange plan of some Egyptians living in Germany.

I asked you, Reichsfüehrer, to take all the measures to prevent the Jews from going. These measures would also be in accordance with Germany policy in general, especially with the Declaration of the German Government on the occasion of the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration on November 2, 1943, which stated “that the destruction of the so-called Jewish national home in Palestine is an immutable part of the policy of the greater German Reich” and that “the National Socialist movement, since its inception, has inscribed on its banner the battle against world Jewry”, as you, Reichsfüehrer, said in your telegram on the same occasion.

In the meantime, I have learned that the Jews, nevertheless, did leave on July 2, 1944, and it is to be feared that further Jewish groups may leave Germany and France under the plan for exchanging Palestinian Germans. This exchange of Germans would encourage the Balkan countries to send their Jews to Palestine too. Furthermore, after the Declaration of the German Government, such a step would be incomprehensible to the Arabs and Moslems, and it would create in them a feeling of keen disappointment.

It is for this reason that I ask you, Reichsfüehrer, to do everything necessary to prevent the Jews from emigrating to Palestine, and in this way you would give a new practical example of the policy of the naturally allied and friendly Germany towards the Arab Nation.

Yours, etc.