The memorandum had been promptly rejected by Viscount Halifax. Sidqi criticized Mustafa el-Nahhas for an inept reading of the growing threat from Hitler and Mussolini's forces, and called on Egypt to assume its historic responsibilities by siding with 'the two noble peoples of England and France'.[47] He conceded that while it was true that both England and France were colonial powers in the Arab world, with possessions and mandates respectively in Mandatory Palestine, Aden, Egypt and Sudan, Syria and Lebanon, the anti-colonial struggle had to await the outcome of the war, and Muslims must mobilise to ensure that these two powers came out victors in the conflict. He argued for this notwithstanding the fact that he himself had, in his recollections, been persecuted by the French, and did not enjoy good relations with the British.[18]