Lebanese Shiite cleric Ali Muhammad al-Husseini, is currently seeking refuge in France with help from Jewish officials. He is being attacked for joining a delegation of Muslim clerics who visited Auschwitz two weeks ago during International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The Muslim cleric is seek refuge after receiving death threats and being faced with a slew of criminal charges in his native land after he visited Auschwitz with the Muslim delegation in a visit he helped organization.
Husseini was accused of being a collaborator with the State of Israel. He was also charged by Lebanese authorities with defamation of religion, incitement to civil war and a host of other accusations.
He is a very well-known Shiite cleric in Lebanon who has been in the crosshairs of the Hezbollah terrorist organization and its supporters for a very long time.
A Shiite cleric who is opposed to Hezbollah, Husseini is very much identified with Saudi Arabia and does not hesitate to voice hawkish positions against Hezbollah, which is itself a Shiite terrorist organization.
The American Jewish Committee AJC, which helped organize the visit to Auschwitz, is also involved in currently trying to find a solution for Husseini.
“The organization feels a commitment and responsibility to assist him since he is the one who organized the visit,” said Rabbi David Rosen of the American Jewish Committee, who spoke with Reshet Bet anchorwoman Esty Perez in a radio interview.
“We are working with the French authorities to legalize his status there as there is a fear for his life if he returns to Lebanon.”