The notorious "Protocols"

Today we heard the last lecture by Livia Bitton-Jackson on the general subject
of the "Jews in world literature," this time on "The Protocols of the Elders
of Zion."
This notorious anti-Semitic tract had its origins in a novel published in 1868
entitled "Biarritz" by a German author named Hermann Goedesche writing in
English under the nom-de-plume of Sir John Radcliffe. In this he describes
how he saw with his own eyes a group of elderly Jews gathering at night in the
cemetery in Prague and heard that they were plotting something nefarious.
This was followed by a Frenchman Maurice Joly, who wrote a satire on Napoleon
III in which his supporters were plotting at night in a cemetery. A Russian
living in Paris, Pytor Ivanovich Rachovsky, a Czarist agent, wrote the first
book actually entitled "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in Russian in 1890,
which he clearly based upon Joly's and Goedesche's books. This version
contained all the later well-known elements, the secret plotting by a cabal of
elderly Jews in a cemetery at night, with the intention of taking over the
world in order to harm Christians. This version was transferred to the
Czarist court, and so impressed Nicolas II that he ordered immediate official
anti-Jewish measures. Pogroms broke out all over Russia, including the
Kishinev massacre in 1903. The book was re-published in 1905 by Sergei
Nilus and became the best selling book in Russia. Remember at that time most
Russians could not read, but the story of the Protocols became "gospel" to
most of the Christian population.
The "Protocols" were spread to Britain in 1920, and within a year five
editions were sold out. The history of the "Protocols" was exposed by Philip
Graves in an article in "The Times" of London in 1921 in which he placed
extracts from Joly's book side by side with that of Nilus and proved the
plagiarism.
In the US, the "Protocols" was picked up by none other than the richest man in
the US, Henry Ford. Although immensely wealthy but uneducated, Ford had
decided to help the poor (while also exploiting them) by fighting the Jews.
He serialized the "Protocols" in his newspaper, the "Dearborn Independent"
that he distributed free starting in 1920. Then he published a pamphlet based
on the "Protocols" entitled "The International Jew."
Although there was a strong backlash from organized Jewry as well as many
Christians, these reactions had little effect. A Chicago Jewish lawyer named
Aaron Shapiro sued Ford on behalf of a group of Jewish organizations, and
although the case dragged on for years, eventually in 1927 Ford lost! He was
forced to issue an apology, to ask for forgiveness for the harm caused, etc.
This he did, although it is unlikely that he was sincere. It so happens that
the judge, named Lewis Marshall, revealed after the case that he was Jewish,
although not practicing, and he recorded how this experience had made him
more proud of his heritage.
Although the "Protocols" started out as a pro-Czarist forgery, it soon was
taken up by other extremists for their own ends. The Bolsheviks used it
because it was well-known that "all Jews are rich" and in fact the Russian
word for "rich" became translated automatically as "Jew." It was well known
that Jewish capitalists were exploiting the poor Russian workers, for which
under Stalin many of them paid with their lives. Then of course, the Nazis
used the "Protocols" extensively in their propaganda, and Hitler and his
followers often quoted from it.
What about the Arab relationship to the "Protocols." Believe it or not the
first Arabic translation of the "Protocols" was made in 1899 in Cairo. So
that if anyone says that this anti-Semitic tract has anything to do with
Zionism or Israel, they are plain wrong! The Arabs simply adopted many
aspects of Christian anti-Semitic propaganda, and for example the Mufti of
Jerusalem, Haj Amin al Husseini, had copies of the "Protocols" translated
into Arabic distributed to every member of his Arab Legion fighting for the
Nazis in WWII. Gamal Abdel Nasser also quoted from it, since his
brother was responsible for one of the later translations. In 1970, when
Henry Kissinger was visiting King Fahd in Saudi Arabia, the King presented
him with a copy, of the "Protocols" in English telling him that it was "a
wonderful book," and confessed that he had only two books by his
bedside, the Koran and the "Protocols," and he read some of each every
evening. It is not known how Kissinger reacted to this generous gift.
The Syrian Defense Minister since 1972, Mustafa Tlas, wrote a notorious book
based on the "Protocols" entitled, "The Talmud Jew," in which he claims that
the Torah tells Jews to murder Christians and Muslims and how to use their
blood for making Matzo, such an outlandish and stupid idea that it would be
funny if it were not so serious. This is also based on the "Damascus blood
libel" of 1840, after which several Jews were arrested and tortured to death
for supposedly killing a Christian priest. Most ominously Hamas, an
offshoot of the Islamic Brotherhood of Egypt, cites the "Protocols" as part of
their official Covenant. The "Protocols" has been incorporated in high school
textbooks throughout the Arab world and is still selling in large numbers
there. Recently there was a notorious TV series in Egypt based on the
"Protocols" and this was re-broadcast by al Manah Hizbollah TV, which
recently caused it to be banned in France.
How is it possible to make peace with people who are so saturated with the
hatred and blood libels that have become standard fare in the Arab world.
Martin Luther King said it best when he stated that anti-Zionism is a form of
anti-Semitism, and no intellectually honest man can deny this.