The affair attracted international outrage in particular due to the efforts of the Austrian Consul in Aleppo Eliahu Picciotto who made representations to Ibrahim Pasha, Muhammad Ali's son in Egypt, who then ordered an investigation. In 1840, G. W. Pieritz also exposed the matter in "The Times" to public indignation, after personal representations to the Pasha on 15 May. Sir Moses Montefiore, a British politician and leader of the British Jewish community, backed by other influential westerners including Britain's Lord Palmerston and Damascus consul Charles Henry Churchill, the French lawyer Adolphe Crémieux, Austrian consul Giovanni Gasparo Merlato, Danish missionary John Nicolayson, and Solomon Munk, led a delegation to the ruler of Syria, Muhammad Ali.