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The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

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File:Protocols of the Elders of Zion 1992 Russia.jpg
1992 Russian edition of the Protocols, adapting Eliphas Levi's portrayal of Baphomet.

The Protocols of the (Learned) Elders of Zion, also The Protocols of the Sages of Zion or The Protocols of Zion (Russian: "Протоколы Сионских мудрецов" or "Сионские Протоколы"), is a text purporting to describe a plan to achieve global domination by Jews. Numerous independent investigations [1] have repeatedly proven it to be a hoax; most notably, a series of articles printed in The Times of London in 1921 revealed that much of the material in the Protocols was plagiarized from earlier political satire that did not have an anti-Semitic theme.

Since the Protocols appeared at the beginning of the 20th century, its earliest publishers have offered vague and often contradictory testimony detailing how they obtained their copy of the rumored original manuscript.[2] Nevertheless, some people continue to view the Protocols as evidence of a conspiracy, especially in parts of the world where anti-Semitism is widespread. It is also frequently quoted and reprinted by anti-Semites, and is sometimes used as evidence of a Jewish conspiracy, especially in the Middle East.[3]

The Protocols are widely considered to be the beginning of contemporary conspiracy theory literature,[4] and take the form of an instruction manual to a new member of the "Elders," describing how they will run the world through control of the media and finance, and replace the traditional social order with one based on mass manipulation. The work was popularized by those opposed to the revolutionary movement, and was disseminated further after the Russian Revolution of 1905, becoming known worldwide after the 1917 Bolshevik October Revolution, when the idea that Bolshevism was a conspiracy for world domination sparked far-ranging interest in the Protocols. Additionally, the Great Depression was an important development in the history of the Protocols, and increased its following despite no verification of its validity. It was widely circulated in the West in the 1920s and 1930s, and while continued usage of the Protocols as a propaganda tool substantially diminished with the defeat of the Nazis in World War II, it still has currency in the arsenal of contemporary anti-Semitism.

File:Protocols of the Elders of Zion 2005 Syria al-Awael.jpg
This 2005 Syrian edition includes an "historical and contemporary investigative study" that repeats the blood libel among other anti-Semitic accusations, and argues that the Torah and Talmud encourage Jews "to commit treason and to conspire, dominate, be arrogant and exploit other countries." ITC CSS

Origins and content

Ironically, the overall theme is not far from a bitterly sarcastic letter entitled The Reply of the Jews of Constantinople, which predates the Protocols by more than four-hundred years. [5] However, much of the text in the Protocols appears to be directly plagiarized from an 1864 pamphlet, Dialogue aux enfers entre Machiavel et Montesquieu (Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu), written by the French satirist Maurice Joly. Joly's work attacks the political ambitions of Napoleon III using the device of diabolical plotters in Hell as stand-ins for Napoleon's views. Joly himself appears to have borrowed material from a popular novel by Eugène Sue, The Mysteries of the People, in which the plotters were Jesuits. Jews do not appear in either work. Since it was illegal to criticize the monarchy, Joly had the pamphlet printed in Belgium, then tried to smuggle it back into France. The police confiscated as many copies as they could, and it was banned. After it was traced to Joly, he was tried on April 25, 1865, and sentenced to fifteen months in prison.

Hermann Goedsche's 1868 fiction novel, Biarritz, with its strong anti-semitic theme, contributed another idea that may have inspired the scribe behind the Protocols. In the chapter, "In the Jewish Cemetery in Prague", Goedsche wrote about a nocturnal meeting between members of a mysterious rabbinical cabal, describing how at midnight, the Devil appears before those who have gathered on behalf of the Twelve Tribes of Israel to plan a "Jewish conspiracy." His depiction is also similar to the scene in Alexandre Dumas's Joseph Balsamo, where Cagliostro and company plot the affair of the diamond necklace. With Biarritz appearing at about the same time as The Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu, it is possible that Goedsche was inspired by the ideas in Joly's pamphlet, especially in detailing the outcome of the cabal's secret meeting.[6] Goedsche, a reactionary to the events of 1848, lost his job in the Prussian postal service after forging evidence to implicate democratic leader Benedict Waldeck of conspiring against the king. Following his dismissal, Goedsche began a career as a conservative columnist, while also producing literary work under the penname Sir John Retcliffe.[7]

Structure and themes

The twenty-four Protocols are posited as instructions to a new Elder, outlining how the group will control the world. The Elders want to trick all "gentile nations," whom they call "goyim," into doing their will. Their preferred methods include:

Protocol Theme
1 Alcoholism
2, 9, 12 The propagation of ideas of all possible complexions with the task of undermining established forms of order, including Darwinism, Marxism, Nietzsche-ism, Liberalism, Socialism, Communism, Anarchism, and Utopianism
4 Materialism
5 World government
7 World wars
10 Universal suffrage
11 Curtailment of civil liberties with the excuse of defeating the enemies of peace
11, 12, 17 Creating the impression of the existence of freedom of press, freedom of speech, democracy and human rights, all of which are subsequently undermined and become mere illusions or deceptive smokescreens behind which actual oppression lies
13 Distractions
14 Pornographic literature
14, 17 The destruction of Christianity and other religions, followed by a transitional stage of atheism, followed finally with the hegemony of Judaism
16 Brainwashing
20 Economic depressions
20 Progressive taxation on property
20 Decimating states by foreign loans
23 Unleashing forces of violence under the mask of principles of freedom, only to have the 'King of the Jews' demolish those very forces to make him appear a saviour

Control of the media and finance would replace the traditional sources of social order with one based on mass manipulation and state engineered propaganda, where powerful elites and institutions conspire to conceal unpalatable truths from the masses. In these respects, the Protocols draw on long-standing criticisms of modernity, radicalism and capitalism, but present them as part of an orchestrated plot, rather than as a product of impersonal historical processes.

The text assumes that the reader already believes that the Freemasons are a secret society with a hidden political agenda, and the Protocols purport to demonstrate that this hidden agenda is itself controlled or guided by the 'Elders,' a sort of conspiracy theory within a conspiracy theory. In the Protocols, Freemasons and "liberal thinkers" are shown to be mere tools whom the Elders will eventually replace with a Jewish theocracy. The Protocols describe a forthcoming "kingdom" and go into great lengths about how it will be run. Yet even in this kingdom the Elders will avoid direct political control, preferring to assert themselves via usury and manipulation of money. Even the "King of the Jews" himself will be nothing more than a figurehead.

Excerpts

The Protocols 1-19 closely follow the order of the Dialogues in Hell... 1-17, with a few exceptions. In some places, plagiarism is incontrovertible:

Another example is the reference to the Hindu deity, Vishnu, which appears exactly twice in both the Dialogues in Hell... and the Protocols:

In addition to mentioning Vishnu, improbable in the Jewish religious literature, and the lack of Talmudic citations that would be expected in it, textual references to the "King of the Jews," the semi-messianic idea that carries strong connotations of Jesus, further suggest the author was not well-versed in Jewish culture, as this term has been avoided in the Judaic tradition since the schism between Judaism and Christianity.[8]

Once Philip Graves' Times article showed the extent of the similarity between the two texts, it became clear that the Protocols were not authentic.

Conspiracy references

The idea that the Freemasons formed part of an anti-Christian conspiracy, either separate from or in association with Jews, long predated the spreading of The Protocols. In the late 18th-early 19th centuries, Freemasonry was popular (as were many fraternal organizations), and its most significant opponent, the Roman Catholic Church, opposed its open support for freedom of religion and enlightenment ideals.

After some interaction with masons, a Scottish natural philosopher John Robison became an enthusiastic conspiracy theorist and expanded on his impressions in his 1797 pamphlet Proofs of a Conspiracy against all the Religions and Governments of Europe, carried on in the secret meetings of Freemasons, Illuminati and Reading Societies. He did not take into account that French masons were members of several mutually hostile factions and that many of them were executed by their rivals. Robison's work does not mention Jews.

Jesuit priest Abbé Barruél had some contact with Robison, but extended the notion to include Jews. He had accused the Jews of founding the Bavarian Illuminati, a movement of freethinkers that were the most radical offshoot of The Enlightenment, and who had ties to the Masons.

The Protocols are widely considered influential in the development of other conspiracy theories, and reappear repeatedly in contemporary conspiracy literature, such as Jim Marrs' Rule by Secrecy. Some recent editions proclaim that the "Jews" depicted in the Protocols are a cover identity for other conspirators such as the Illuminati, Freemasons, the Priory of Sion, or even, in the opinion of David Icke, "extra-dimensional entities". Other minor groups that believe in their authenticity have claimed that the book does not depict the way that all Jews think and act but only those belonging to an alleged secret elite of Zionists.

Historical publications, usage, and investigations

Emergence in Russia

A Russian translation of Joly's Dialogues in Hell appeared in 1872. [citation needed] After the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881, the chapter "In the Jewish Cemetery in Prague" from Goedsche's Biarritz, containing the alleged rabbinical plot against European civilization, began circulating in Russia as a pamphlet. [citation needed] Okhranka, the tsarist secret police, found these works useful in their effort to discredit liberal reformers and revolutionaries who were rapidly gaining popular support, especially among oppressed minorities such as Russian Jews.

Recent research by Russian historian Mikhail Lepekhine traced the Protocols to Matvei Golovinski, agent provocateur of Okhranka, as part of a scheme to persuade Tsar Nicholas II that the modernization of Russia was really a Jewish plot to control the world. Lepekhine discovered Golovinski's authorship in Russia's long-closed archives and published his findings in November 1999 in the French newsweekly L'Express[9]. Golovinski had been linked to the work before; the German writer Konrad Heiden identified him as an author of the Protocols in 1944.[10] Golovinski worked together with Charles Joly (son of Maurice Joly) at Le Figaro in Paris and wrote articles at the direction of Pyotr Rachkovsky, Chief of the Russian secret service. During the Dreyfus affair in France, when polarization of European attitudes towards the Jews was at a maximum, the publication began private circulation as The Protocols in 1897.[11] After the 1917 revolution, Golovinski became a Bolshevik propagandist.

According to Will Eisner, "From the Tsar's French files, Lepekhine unearthed the evidence of Golovinski's role." [12]

A Ukrainian scholar Vadim Skuratovsky offers extensive literary, historical and linguistic analysis of the original text of the Protocols and traces the influences of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's prose (in particular, The Grand Inquisitor and The Possessed) on Golovinski's writings, including the Protocols. [13]

In his book The Non-Existent Manuscript. A Study of the Protocols of the Sages of Zion, Italian researcher Cesare G. De Michelis writes [14] that hypothesis of Golovinski authorship was based on statement by Princess Catherine Radziwill. She claimed that she had seen manuscript of the protocols written by Golovinsky, Rachkovsky and Manusevich in 1905, but in 1905 Golovinsky and Rachkovsky had already left Paris and moved to Saint Petersburg. Princess Radziwill was known to be an unreliable source.

The Protocols were first mentioned in the Russian press on April 1902, in the Saint Petersburg newspaper, Novoye Vremya(Новое Время - The New Times). The article was written by a famous conservative publicist Mikhail Menshikov as a part of his regular series "Letters to Neighbors" ("Письма к ближним") and was entitled "Plots against Humanity". The author described his meeting with a lady (Yuliana Glinka, as it is known now) who, after telling him about her mystical revelations, implored him to get familiar with the documents later known as the Protocols; but after reading some excerpts Menshikov became quite skeptical about their origin and did not publish them.Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page).

First printing and Nilus edition

The Protocols were first published abridged in series from August 28 to September 7 (O.S.), 1903 in Znamya (Знамя - The Banner), a Saint Petersburg daily newspaper, under Pavel Krushevan. Krushevan had initiated the Kishinev pogrom four months earlier.[15]

The Protocols enjoyed another wave of popularity in Russia after 1905, when progressive political elements in Russia succeeded in creating a constitution and a parliament, the Duma. The reactionary "Union of the Russian People", known as the Black Hundreds, together with the Okhranka, the Tsarist secret police, blamed this liberalization on the "International Jewish conspiracy," and began a program of disseminating the Protocols as propaganda to support the wave of pogroms that swept Russia in 1903–1906 and as a tool to deflect attention from social activism. It also was of interest to Tsar Nicholas II, who was fearful of modernization and protective of his monarchy, and he presented the growing revolutionary movement as part of a powerful world conspiracy and blamed the Jews for Russia's problems.

1912 edition of Nilus' book The Great in the Small included the Protocols. The signs among occult symbols read: "Thus we shall win", "Mark of antichrist", "Tetragrammaton", "INRI", "Tarot", "Great mystery", etc.

In 1905, self-proclaimed mystic priest Sergei Nilus gained fame by publishing the full text of the Protocols in the appendix of the third edition of his book The Great in the Small: The Coming of the Anti-Christ and the Rule of Satan on Earth. He claimed it was the work of the First Zionist Congress, held eight years earlier in Basel, Switzerland. When it was pointed out that the First Zionist Congress had been open to the public and was attended by many non-Jews, Nilus changed his story, saying the Protocols were the work of the 1902–1903 meetings of the "Elders", but contradicting his own prior statement that he had received his copy in 1901:

In 1901, I succeeded through an acquaintance of mine (the late Court Marshal Alexei Nikolayevich Sukotin of Chernigov) in getting a manuscript that exposed with unusual perfection and clarity the course and development of the secret Jewish Freemasonic conspiracy, which would bring this wicked world to its inevitable end. The person who gave me this manuscript guaranteed it to be a faithful translation of the original documents that were stolen by a woman from one of the highest and most influential leaders of the Freemasons at a secret meeting somewhere in France—the beloved nest of Freemasonic conspiracy.[16]

Nilus also had personal motivations for publishing them. At the time he was trying to become the royal couple's confessor and brought his book to the Tsar's attention with the help of the Grand Duchess Elizaveta Fyodorovna. This was part of a faction fight against Papus and Nizier Anthelme Philippe at the Tsarist court. (Indeed, Papus was accused in 1920 of having forged the Protocols to discredit Philippe.) Nicholas II's notes handwritten in the margins are the evidence of his first reaction:

"What precise execution of their programme!",
"Our 1905 was clearly orchestrated by the Zion Elders!",
"The Jews' guiding and destroying hand is visible everywhere".

Stolypin's fraud investigation, 1905

A subsequent secret investigation ordered by the newly appointed chairman of the Council of Ministers Pyotr Stolypin soon determined that the Protocols were authored by operatives of the Okhranka in Paris. The details were not made public to avoid compromising the chief of the secret service Pyotr Rachkovsky and his agents, including Golovinski. When Nicholas II learned of the results of this investigation, he requested: "The Protocols should be confiscated, a good cause cannot be defended by dirty means". Despite the order, or because of the "good cause", numerous reprints proliferated.[15]

Bolshevism and spread of the Protocols, 1920s

File:Protocols of the Elders of Zion 1927 Paris Ru emig.jpg
1927 ed. by Russian emigrants in Paris portrays the Bolshevik Revolution as a "Jewish plot"

After the Bolshevik Revolution, factions connected to the White movement used the Protocols to perpetrate hatred and violence against the Jews. The idea that the Bolshevik movement was a Jewish conspiracy for world domination, plus the fact that some top Bolsheviks, particularly Leon Trotsky, were indeed Jews, sparked worldwide interest in the Protocols.

The author of the most widespread English translation of the Protocols was a British correspondent for The Morning Post, Victor E. Marsden, who was imprisoned by the Bolsheviks in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Upon his release and return to England he began translating Nilus's version, adding an introduction that concluded with a comment on Chaim Weizmann's October 6, 1920 remark at a banquet: "A beneficent protection which God has instituted in the life of the Jew is that He has dispersed him all over the world." Marsden asserted,

"It proves that the Learned Elders exist. It proves that Dr. Weizmann knows all about them. It proves that the desire for a "National Home" in Palestine is only camouflage and an infinitesimal part of the Jew's real object. It proves that the Jews of the world have no intention of settling in Palestine or any separate country, and that their annual prayer that they may all meet "Next Year in Jerusalem" is merely a piece of their characteristic make-believe. It also demonstrates that the Jews are now a world menace, and that the Aryan races will have to domicile them permanently out of Europe."[17]

In a single year, five editions sold out in England. That same year in the United States, Henry Ford sponsored the printing of 500,000 copies, and until 1927 published a series of anti-Semitic articles in The Dearborn Independent, a newspaper he controlled. In 1921 Ford cited it as evidence of a Jewish threat: "The only statement I care to make about the Protocols is that they fit in with what is going on. They are sixteen years old, and they have fitted the world situation up to this time."[18] In 1927, however, Ford retracted his publication and apologized, claiming his assistants duped him, but continued his admiration for Nazi Germany[19]

The first German translation was by Ludwig Müller von Hausen in 1920. It was followed in 1923 by Alfred Rosenberg's edition, Die Protokolle der Weisen von Zion und die judische Weltpolitik.

The Times exposes a forgery, 1921

File:19210816 TheTimes exposes TheProtocols as a forgery.jpg
The Times exposed the Protocols as a forgery on August 16-18, 1921

In 1920, the history of the concepts found in the Protocols was traced back to the works of Goedsche and Joly by Lucien Wolf; was published in London in August 1921; and was similarly exposed in the series of articles in The Times by its Constantinople reporter, Philip Graves, who took his information from Wolf's work.

According to writer Peter Grose, Allen Dulles, who was in Constantinople developing relationships in post-Ottoman political structures, discovered 'the source' of the documentation ultimately provided to The Times. Grose writes that The Times extended a loan to the source, an exiled White Russian who refused to be identified, with the understanding the loan would not be repaid. [20]

In the first article of Graves' series, entitled "A Literary Forgery", the editors of The Times wrote, "our Constantinople Correspondent presents for the first time conclusive proof that the document is in the main a clumsy plagiarism. He has forwarded us a copy of the French book from which the plagiarism is made."[21] The New York Times reprinted the articles on September 4, 1921. [22] In the same year, an entire book documenting the hoax was published in the United States by Herman Bernstein. Despite this widespread and extensive debunking, the Protocols continued to be regarded as important factual evidence by anti-Semites.

The Berne Trial, 1934-1935

In 1934, Swiss Nazi Dr. A. Zander published a series of articles accepting the Protocols as fact. He was sued in what has come to be known as the Berne Trial. The trial began in the Cantonal Court of Berne on October 29, 1934, the plaintiffs were Dr. J. Dreyfus-Brodsky, Dr. Marcus Cohen and Dr. Marcus Ehrenpreis. On May 19, 1935 the court, after full investigation, declared the Protocols to be forgeries, plagiarisms, and obscene literature. Judge Walter Meyer, a Christian who had not heard of the Protocols earlier, said in conclusion:

"I hope, the time will come when nobody will be able to understand how in 1935 nearly a dozen sane and responsible men were able for two weeks to mock the intellect of the Bern court discussing the authenticity of the so-called Protocols, the very Protocols that, harmful as they have been and will be, are nothing but laughable nonsense".[15]

A Russian emigre, anti-Bolshevik and anti-Fascist Vladimir Burtsev, who exposed numerous Okhranka agents provocateurs in the early 1900s, served as a witness at the Berne Trial. In 1938 in Paris he published a book, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion: A Proved Forgery, based on his testimony.

On November 1, 1937 the sued party of the trial applied to the Swiss Court of Appeal asking to reverse the verdict, claiming that the law, while prohibiting "obscene literature", means pornography and is inapplicable to the "Protocols". The three judges have focused on purely procedural aspects of the case and decided to reverse the verdict. However, the presiding judge stated clearly that the forgery of the Protocols is not questionable and expressed regret that the law does not provide enough protection for Jews from literature of that kind. The court put the costs of both trials upon the sued party.[23] This decision gave grounds for later allegations that the appeal court "confirmed authenticity of the Protocols" which is opposite to the facts.

In an August 1934 case in Grahamstown, South Africa, the court imposed fines totalling £1,775 (about $4,500) on three men for disseminating a version of the Protocols.

Used by the Nazis, 1930s-1940s

File:Protocols of the Elders of Zion 1943 Poland Poznan.gif
1943 Polish language edition, published in Poland under Nazi occupation, shows a typical anti-Semitic caricature

The Protocols were published in Italy in 1937, by Julius Evola, who also wrote the introduction.

The Protocols also became a part of the Nazi propaganda effort to justify persecution of the Jews. It was made required reading for German students. In The Holocaust: The Destruction of European Jewry 1933-1945, Nora Levin states that "Hitler used the Protocols as a manual in his war to exterminate the Jews":

Despite conclusive proof that the Protocols were a gross forgery, they had sensational popularity and large sales in the 1920's and 1930's. They were translated into every language of Europe and sold widely in Arab lands, the United States, and England. But it was in Germany after World War I that they had their greatest success. There they were used to explain all of the disasters that had befallen the country: the defeat in the war, the hunger, the destructive inflation.[24]

Hitler refers to the Protocols in Mein Kampf:

... To what extent the whole existence of this people is based on a continuous lie is shown incomparably by the Protocols of the Wise Men of Zion, so infinitely hated by the Jews. They are based on a forgery, the Frankfurter Zeitung moans and screams once every week: the best proof that they are authentic. [...] the important thing is that with positively terrifying certainty they reveal the nature and activity of the Jewish people and expose their inner contexts as well as their ultimate final aims.[25]

Contemporary usage and popularity

While there is continued popularity of The Protocols in nations from South America to Asia, since the defeat of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy in the Second World War governments or political leaders in most parts of the world have generally avoided claims that The Protocols represent factual evidence of a real Jewish conspiracy. The exception to this is the Middle East, where a large number of Arab and Muslim regimes and leaders have endorsed them as authentic.

Past endorsements of The Protocols from Presidents Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat of Egypt, one of the President Arifs of Iraq, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, and Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi of Libya, among other political and intellectual leaders of the Arab world, are echoed by 21st century endorsements from the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Sheikh Ekrima Sa'id Sabri and Hamas to the education ministry of Saudi Arabia.[26]

Middle East

As popular opposition to Israel spread across the Middle East in the second half of the century, many Arab governments funded new printings of the Protocols, and taught them in their schools as historical fact. They have been accepted as such by many Islamic extremist organizations, such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Reportedly, Arabic editions issued in the Middle East were found on sale as far away as London.[27]

Syria

The Protocols is a best-seller in Syria[28] and, together with other anti-Semitic materials published there, is distributed throughout the Arab-Muslim world.[29] In 1997, the two-volume 8th edition of the Protocols, translated and edited by 'Ajaj Nuwayhid, was published by Mustafa Tlass's publishing house and exhibited and sold at the Damascus International Book Fair (IBF) and at the Cairo IBF. At the 2005 Cairo IBF a stand of the Syrian publisher displayed a new, 2005 edition of the Protocols authorized by the Syrian Ministry of Information.[30][31] In Syria government-controlled television channels occasionally broadcast mini-series concerning the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, along with several other anti-semitic themes. [32]

Egypt

In a foreword to a translation of Shimon Peres' book The New Middle East, the Egyptian state-owned publisher al-Ahram editorialized in 1995:

When The Protocols of the Elders of Zion were discovered, some 200 years ago, and translated in various languages, including Arabic, the World Zionist Organization attempted to deny the existence of the plot, and claimed forgery. The Zionists even endeavoured to purchase all the existing copies, in order to prevent their circulation. But today, Shimon Peres proves unequivocally that the Protocols are authentic, and that they tell the truth.

File:Protocols of the Elders of Zion and their Biblical and Talmudic Origins 2003 by Ahmad Hijazi al-Saqa prof Comp Religion Al-Azhar U.jpg
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and their Biblical and Talmudic Origins, 2003 ed. by Ahmad H. al-Saqa, professor of Comparative Religion, Al-Azhar University

An article in the Egyptian state-owned newspaper al-Akhbar on February 3, 2002 stated:

All the evils that currently affect the world are the doings of Zionism. This is not surprising, because the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which were established by their wise men more than a century ago, are proceeding according to a meticulous and precise plan and time schedule, and they are proof that even though they are a minority, their goal is to rule the world and the entire human race."

In October 2002, a private Egyptian television company Dream TV produced a 41-part "historical drama" A Horseman Without a Horse (Fares Bela Gewad), largely based on the Protocols[33], which ran on 17 Arabic-language satellite television channels, including government-owned Egypt Television (ETV), for a month, causing concerns in the West[34]. Egypt's Information Minister Safwat El-Sherif announced that the series "contains no anti-Semitic material"[35].

On November 17, 2003, an Egyptian weekly al-Usbu‘ reported that the manuscript museum at the Alexandria Library, displayed the first Arabic translation of the Protocols at the section of the holy books of Judaism, next to a Torah scroll. The museum's director Dr. Yousef Ziedan was quoted as saying in an interview:

"...it has become one of the sacred [texts] of the Jews, next to their first constitution, their religious law ... more important to the Zionist Jews of the world than the Torah, because they conduct Zionist life according to it ... It is only natural to place the book in the framework of an exhibit of Torah."[36]

It also quoted him as saying that no more than one million Jews were killed by the Nazis, but Zionists manipulated the "knowledge that has reached the world".[36]

Dr. Yousef Ziedan strongly denies these quotes, accusing al-Usbu‘ of attributing "fabricated, groundless lies" to him and stating that "the Protocols is a racist, silly, fabricated book":

"The story began with an article in an Egyptian newspaper, al-Usbu‘, two weeks ago (on November 17th, 2003), which alleged quoting from me utterly senseless statements intertwining facts with fancies. A month before, a journalist from the aforementioned newspaper interviewed me concerning the recent refurbishment of the manuscript and rare book museum. I handed her a written statement, as was the case with other journalists who covered the same news. Although, she concluded her article with my exact words, she started it with fabricated, groundless lies. She falsely reported me saying that I placed an edition of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion at the center of the museum alongside the Jewish Torah and divine books. Moreover, she claimed that I told her that this book is more significant then the Torah... On my part, I would like to maintain to the visitors of ziedan.com that the Protocols is a racist, silly, fabricated book. Perhaps, I should consider more thoroughly the Jewish issue on the academic level and furnish my vision of the interaction of religions. As civilized people, we totally renounce racism and call for tolerance and constructive interaction between people."[37]

After the publication, director of the Library Dr. Ismail Serageldin issued a statement:

"Preliminary investigation determined that the book was briefly displayed in a showcase devoted to rotating samples of curiosities and unusual items in our collection. ... The book is a well-known 19th century fabrication to foment anti-Jewish feelings. The book was promptly withdrawn from public display, but its very inclusion showed bad judgment and insensitivity..."[38]

Iran

The first Iranian edition of the Protocols was issued during the summer of 1978 at the time of the Iranian Revolution. In 1985 a new edition of the Protocols was printed and widely distributed by the Islamic Propagation Organization, International Relations Department in Tehran. The Astaneh-ye Qods Razavi (Shrine of Imam Reza) Foundation in Mashhad, Iran, one of the wealthiest institutions in Iran, financed publication of the Protocols in 1994. Parts of the Protocols were published by the daily Jomhouri-ye Eslami in 1994, under the heading The Smell of Blood, Zionist Schemes. Sobh, a radical Islamic monthly, published excerpts from the Protocols under the heading The text of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion for establishing the Jewish global rule in its December 1998–January 1999 issue, illustrated with a caricature of the Jewish snake swallowing the globe.

Iranian writer and researcher Ali Baqeri, who researched the Protocols, finds their plan for world domination to be merely part of an even more grandiose scheme, saying in Sobh in 1999:

"The ultimate goal of the Jews... after conquering the globe... is to extract from the hands of the Lord many stars and galaxies".

In April 2004, the Iranian television station Al-Alam broadcast Al-Sameri wa Al-Saher, a series that reported as fact several conspiracy theories about the Holocaust, Jewish control of Hollywood, and the Protocols.[39] The Iran Pavilion of the 2005 Frankfurt Book Fair had the Protocols, as well as The International Jew (reprints from Henry Ford's The Dearborn Independent) available. [40][41]

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabian schoolbooks contain explicit summaries of the Protocols as factual:

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion: These are secret resolutions, most probably of the aforementioned Basel congress. They were discovered in the nineteenth century. The Jews tried to deny them, but there was ample evidence proving their authenticity and that they were issued by the elders of Zion. The Protocols can be summarized in the following points:

  1. Upsetting the foundations of the world's present society and its systems, in order to enable Zionism to have a monopoly of world government.
  2. Eliminating nationalities and religions, especially the Christian nations.
  3. Striving to increase corruption among the present regimes in Europe, as Zionism believes in their corruption and [eventual] collapse.
  4. Controlling the media of publication, propaganda and the press, using gold for stirring up disturbances, seducing people by means of lust and spreading wantonness.

The cogent proof of the authenticity of these resolutions, as well as of the hellish Jewish schemes included therein, is the [actual] carrying out of many of those schemes, intrigues and conspiracies that are found in them. Anyone who reads them — and they were published in the nineteenth century — grasps today to what extent much of what is found there has been realized.[42]

According to Freedom House 2006 report, Saudi "textbook for boys for Tenth Grade on Hadith and Islamic Culture contains a lesson on the "Zionist Movement." It is a curious blend of wild conspiracy theories about Masonic Lodges, Rotary Clubs, and Lions Clubs with anti-Semitic invective. It asserts that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an authentic document and teaches students that it reveals what Jews really believe. It blames many of the world’s wars and discord on the Jews." [43]

Lebanon and Hezbollah

In March 1970, the Protocols were reported to be the top 'nonfiction' bestseller in Lebanon.[44] The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2004 by the US Department of State states that "the television series, Ash-Shatat ("The Diaspora"), which centred on the alleged conspiracy of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" to dominate the world, was aired in October and November 2003 by the Lebanon-based satellite television network Al-Manar, owned by Hezbollah."[45]

Hamas

The Charter of Hamas explicitly refers to the Protocols accepting them as factual and makes several references to Freemasons as one of the "secret societies" controlled by "Zionists". The Article 32 of the Hamas Charter states:

The Zionist plan is limitless. After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying.[46]

Palestinian National Authority

The PNA frequently used the Protocols in the media and education under their control and some Palestinian academics presented the forgery as a plot upon which Zionism is based. For example, on January 25, 2001, the official PNA daily Al-Hayat al-Jadida cited the Protocols on its Political National Education page to explain Israel's policies:

Disinformation has been one of the bases of morale and psychological manipulation among the Israelis ... The Protocols of the Elders of Zion did not ignore the importance of using propaganda to promote the Zionist goals. The second protocol reads: 'Through the newspapers we will have the means to propel and to influence'. In the twelfth protocol: 'Our governments will hold the reins of most of the newspapers, and through this plan we will possess the primary power to turn to public opinion.'

Later that year the same newspaper wrote: "The purpose of the military policy is to impose this situation on the residents and force them to leave their homes, and this is done in the framework of the Protocols of Zion..."[47]

The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Sheikh Ekrima Sa'id Sabri appeared on the Saudi satellite channel Al-Majd on February 20, 2005, commenting on the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. "Anyone who studies The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and specifically the Talmud," he said, "will discover that one of the goals of these Protocols is to cause confusion in the world and to undermine security throughout the world."[48]

In 2005, it was reported that the Palestinian Authority was teaching the Protocols in schools. After media exposure, the PA promised to stop. [49] On May 19, 2005, the New York Times reported that Palestinian Authority Minister of Information Nabil Shaath removed from his ministry's web site an Arabic translation of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.[50]

Other contemporary appearances

To a great degree, the text is still accepted as truthful in large parts of South America and Asia, especially in Japan where variations on the Protocols have frequently made the bestseller lists.[51]

The text is mostly seen as an authentic document in Turkey, particularly by nationalist and Islamist circles. Protocols were first issued in the magazine Millî İnkılâb (National Revolution) in 1934 and triggered the Thracian pogroms (Trakya Olayları) the same year. It had made over one hundred editions from 1943 to 2004 and remains highly popular as a best-seller of all times.[52]

In February 2003, an Australian new age publication Hard Evidence presented the Protocols as factual and that Jews were responsible for 2002 Bali bombing.[53]

The New Zealand National Front sells copies published by their former national secretary, Kerry Bolton. Bolton also publishes (and the NZNF sells) a book entitled "The Protocols of Zion in Context" that seeks to refute the idea that the Protocols are a forgery.

Idi Amin, the President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979, cited the book as evidence of a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world, and as justification for his self-proclaimed plans to destroy Israel. He reveals this in an interview during the 1974 documentary Idi Amin Dada, during which he also invited Palestinian rebels to his country, partially causing the Entebbe affair.

United States

The Protocols have had a tumultuous history in the United States ever since luminaries such as automobile mogul Henry Ford began publishing them under the title of The International Jew. The Protocols were republished as fact in 1991 in William Milton Cooper's conspiracy diatribe Behold a Pale Horse, though Cooper himself holds the Illuminati and not the Jews at fault.

The American retail chain, Wal-Mart, was criticized for selling The Protocols of the Elders of Zion on its website with a description that suggested it might be genuine. It was withdrawn from sale in September 2004, as 'a business decision'. It is distributed in the United States by some Palestinian student groups on college campuses, and by Louis Farrakhan's "Nation of Islam".[54]

In 2002, the Paterson, New Jersey-based Arabic-language newspaper The Arab Voice published excerpts from the Protocols as true.[55] The paper's editor and publisher Walid Rabah defended himself from criticism with the protestation that "some major writers in the Arab nation accept the truth of the book."[56]

During his October 2003 presentation at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio, Samir Makhlouf of the Presbyterian Peacemakers organization stated that the Protocols was a factual text that explains how Zionists have been taking over the world's politics, economics and communications. After the controversy became public, the group's sponsors "agreed that they had made a grave mistake, and ... that antisemitism is anti-Christianity."[57][58]

Soviet Union and post-Soviet states

Howard Sachar describes the allegations of global Jewish conspiracy resurrected during the Soviet "anti-Zionist" campaign in the wake of the Six-Day War:

"In late July 1967, Moscow launched an unprecedented propaganda campaign against Zionism as a "world threat." Defeat was attributed not to tiny Israel alone, but to an "all-powerful international force." ... In its flagrant vulgarity, the new propaganda assault soon achieved Nazi-era characteristics. The Soviet public was saturated with racist canards. Extracts from Trofim Kichko's notorious 1963 volume, Judaism Without Embellishment, were extensively republished in the Soviet media. Yuri Ivanov's Beware: Zionism, a book essentially replicated The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, was given nationwide coverage."[59]

A similar picture is drawn by Paul Johnson: the mass media "all over the Soviet Union portrayed the Zionists (i.e. Jews) and Israeli leaders as engaged in a world-wide conspiracy along the lines of the old Protocols of Zion. It was, Sovietskaya Latvia wrote 5 August 1967, an 'international Cosa Nostra with a common centre, common programme and common funds'".[60]

Despite stipulations against fomenting hatred based on ethnic or religious grounds (Article 282 of the Russian Federation Penal Code), the Protocols have enjoyed numerous reprints in the nationalist press after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1993, a district court in Moscow, Russia, formally ruled that the Protocols were faked in dismissing a libel suit by the ultra-nationalist Pamyat organization, which had been criticized for using them in their anti-Semitic publications.[61]

In 2003, one century after the first publication of the Protocols, an article[62] in the most popular Russian weekly Argumenty i fakty referred to it as a "peculiar bible of Zionism" and showed a photo of the First Zionist Congress of 1897. The co-president of the National-Patriot Union of Russia Alexander Prokhanov wrote: "It does not matter whether the Protocols are a forgery or a factual conspiracy document." The article also contained refutation of the allegations by the president of the Russian Jewish congress Yevgeny Satanovsky.

As recently as 2005, the Protocols was "a frequent feature in Patriarchate churches".[63][64] On January 27, 2006, members of Russia's Public Chamber and human rights activists proposed to establish a list of extremist literature whose dissemination should be formally banned for uses other than scientific research.[65]

References

  1. ^ A list of independent investigations:
  2. ^ John Spargo, "The Jew and American Ideals". Harper & Brothers Publishers New York 1921 p. 20-40.
  3. ^ UNISPAL United Nations Economic and Social Council, Dissemination of racist and anti-Semitic hate material on television programs (Retrieved Sept 2005)
  4. ^ Svetlana Boym, "Conspiracy theories and literary ethics: Umberto Eco, Danilo Kis and The Protocols of Zion,": Comparative Literature, Spring 1999.
  5. ^ Norman Cohn, Warrant for Genocide: The Myth of the Jewish World-Conspiracy and the Protocols of the Elder of Zion (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1966) http://users.cyberone.com.au/myers/cohn.html
  6. ^ This material was originally exposed by Philip Graves in "The Source of The Protocols of Zion", published in The Times, 16, 17 & 18 August 1921, and has since been expanded in many sources.
  7. ^ Norman Cohn, Warrant for Genocide: The Myth of the Jewish World-Conspiracy and the Protocols of the Elder of Zion (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1966) 32-36.
  8. ^ See INRI, Jewish Messiah, Judaism's view of Jesus.
  9. ^ Template:Fr iconÉric Conan. Les secrets d'une manipulation antisémite. L’Express, 16/11/1999.
  10. ^ Forging Protocols by By Charles Paul Freund. Reason Magazine, February 2000
  11. ^ Protocols of Zion forger named by Patrick Bishop (Daily Telegraph) November 19, 1999 (Issue 1638)
  12. ^ The Plot: The Secret Story of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion by Will Eisner (W. W. Norton & Company, 2005) ISBN 0393060454 p.134 (notes)
  13. ^ Vadim Skuratovsky: The Question of the Authorship of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion", (Judaica Institute, Kiev, 2001) ISBN 966-72-73-12-1
  14. ^ Template:Ru iconExtensive cites from Michelis in the book of Vadim Skuratovsky
  15. ^ a b c The Fraud of a Century, or a book born in hell, by Valery Kadzhaya (Retrieved Sept 2005)
  16. ^ Morris Kominsky, The Hoaxers, 1970. p. 209 ISBN 0828312885
  17. ^ Introduction to English edition by Victor E. Marsden
  18. ^ Max Wallace, The American Axis St. Martin's Press, 2003
  19. ^ Ford and GM Scrutinized for Alleged Nazi Collaboration by Michael Dobbs. The Washington Post November 30, 1998; Page A01. URL accessed March 20 2006.
  20. ^ Peter Grose, in Gentleman Spy: The Life of Allen Dulles (Houghton Mifflin 1994)
  21. ^ "Jewish World Plot": An Exposure. The Source of "The Protocols of Zion". Truth at Last (PDF) by Philip Graves published at The Times, August 16-18, 1921
  22. ^ The New York Times, September 4, 1921. Front page, Section 7
  23. ^ Hadassa Ben-Itto, The Lie That Wouldn’t Die: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Chapter 11.
  24. ^ Nora Levin, The Holocaust: The Destruction of European Jewry 1933-1945. Quoting from [1]
  25. ^ Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf: Chapter XI: Nation and Race, Vol I, pp. 307-308.
  26. ^ Islamic Anti-Semitism in Historical Perspective (PDF) at Anti-Defamation League
  27. ^ Exporting Arabic anti-Semitic publications issued in the Middle East to Britain Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (ITC CSS). October 10, 2005
  28. ^ The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a Syrian best-seller at ITC CSS. April 20, 2005
  29. ^ UNISPAL. Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and All Forms of Discrimination. Question of Violation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in Any Part of the World. Written statement submitted by the Association for World Education. 10 February 2004
  30. ^ A new 2005 Syrian edition of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion at ITC CSS. February 28, 2005
  31. ^ Syria unveils updated anti-Semitic work. Damascus releases updated 'Protocols' book filled with canards about 'treacherous' Zionists by Aaron Klein at WorldNetDaily. March 9, 2005
  32. ^ Al-Shatat: The Syrian-Produced Ramadan 2003 TV Special
  33. ^ Plot summary at the Anti-Defamation League
  34. ^ Egypt: U.S. Concerns Regarding Proposed Anti-Semitic Mini-Series Office of the Spokesman at the U.S. State Department
  35. ^ Protocols, politics and Palestine at al-Ahram Weekly
  36. ^ a b Jewish Holy Books On Display at the Alexandria Library: The Torah & the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' December 3, 2003
  37. ^ First Statement: Necessary Explanation at ziedan.com. (March 11, 2006)
  38. ^ Public Statement by the Director of the Library of Alexandria
  39. ^ Iranian TV Series Based on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and the Jewish Control of Hollywood. MEMRI. April 30, 2004
  40. ^ The Booksellers of Tehran,” The Wall Street Journal Online, October 28, 2005
  41. ^ Frankfurt Book Fair informs public prosecutor's office of anti-Semitism accusations
  42. ^ CMIP report: The Jews in World History according to the Saudi textbooks. The Danger of World Jewry, by Abdullah al-Tall, pp. 140–141 (Arabic). Hadith and Islamic Culture, Grade 10, (2001) pp. 103–104.
  43. ^ 2006 Saudi Arabia's Curriculum of Intolerance Report by Center for Religious Freedom of Freedom House. 2006 Template:PDFlink
  44. ^ Efraim Karsh, Rethinking the Middle East, Routledge, 2003. p. 101
  45. ^ Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2004 Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of the US State Department February 28, 2005
  46. ^ The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS) August 18, 1988 (The Avalon Project at Yale Law School) retrieved October 2005
  47. ^ "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in official PA ideology, 2001-2002 a Bulletin by Itamar Marcus at Palestinian Media Watch. (Retrieved January 2006)
  48. ^ The anti-Jewish lie that refuses to die by Steve Boggan, The Times, March 02, 2005
  49. ^ Palestinian Authority Promises to Remove Protocols References from Textbooks. Jewish Virtual Library. URL accessed March 18 2006.
  50. ^ PNA Minister of Information removes the Protocols from their website (NYT - by subscription)
  51. ^ Anti-Semitism Worldwide 1995-6 (Project for the Study of Anti-Semitism, Tel Aviv University), pp. 265-6.
    For more information on the popularity of the Protocols in Japan, see:
  52. ^ Kavgam ve Siyon Protokolleri, Ayşe Hür, Radikal 2, 13.03.2005
    For more information on popularity of anti-Semitic literature in Turkey, see:
  53. ^ Confronting Reality: Anti-Semitism in Australia Today by Jeremy Jones. Fall 2004
  54. ^ Arthur Hertzberg, Jews: The Essence and Character of a People Harper Collins, 1999. p 34.
  55. ^ The Paterson 'Protocols' by Daniel Pipes. New York Post. November 5, 2002
  56. ^ A documentary film, Protocols of Zion (2005)[2], connects the Protocols to a resurgence of anti-Semitism following the September 11 World Trade Center attacks.
  57. ^ Message of hate brought to Wooster campus
  58. ^ College of Wooster begins bridge building published in Cleveland Jewish News (retrieved Feb. 19, 2006)
  59. ^ Howard Sachar, A History of the Jews in the Modern World (Knopf, NY. 2005) p.722
  60. ^ Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews (1987) p.575-576
  61. ^ Russian Court Rules 'Protocols' an Anti-Semitic Forgery By Michael A. Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, November 28, 1993 (Retrieved Sept 2005)
  62. ^ Protocols of contention, Argumenty i fakty, September 10, 2003
  63. ^ Eye on Eurasia: Believing the Protocols By Paul Goble UPI, April 13, 2005
  64. ^ Anti-Semitism in the Post-Soviet States by Betsy Gidwitz. (JCPA) (April 2003)
  65. ^ Russia’s Public Chamber to Produce List of Literature to Ban, MosNews, January 27, 2006

Further reading

  • Will Eisner, The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. ISBN 0-393-06045-4
  • Norman Cohn, Warrant for Genocide, 1967 (Eyre & Spottiswoode), 1996 (Serif) ISBN 1897959257
  • Hadassa Ben-Itto, The Lie That Wouldn’t Die: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, 2005 (Vallentine Mitchell). Review
  • Steven Leonard Jacobs, Mark Weitzman, Dismantling the Big Lie: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. (2003) ISBN 0-88125-785-0
  • Danilo Kis presents a narrative history of the "Protocols" as The Book Of Kings And Fools in The Encyclopedia of the Dead, 1989 (Faber and Faber)
  • Richard S. Levy, A Lie and a Libel: The History of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (A translation of Binjamin W. Segel's 1926 book) (1996), University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0803292457.
  • Kenneth R. Timmerman, Preachers of Hate: Islam and the War on America (2003), Crown Forum. ISBN 1400049016
  • Stephen Eric Bronner, A Rumor About the Jews: Reflections on Antisemitism and the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion (Oxford University Press, 2003) ISBN 0195169565
  • Cesare G. De Michelis, The Non-Existent Manuscript. A Study of the Protocols of the Sages of Zion (Translated by Richard Newhouse; University of Nebraska Press, 2004) ISBN 0-8032-1727-7
  • Isaac Goldberg, The so-called "Protocols of the Elders of Zion": a Definitive Exposure of One of the Most Malicious Lies in History (Girard, Kansas, Haldeman-Julius Publications, 1936).
  • Lucien Wolf, The Myth of the Jewish Menace in World Affairs or, The Truth About the Forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion (New York, The Macmillan company, 1921).

See also


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