A drawing of an angry mob attacking Jews. (Wikimedia Commons) (Wikimedia Commons)
pogrom

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Still used to this day against Jews and the State of Israel, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the most successful work of anti-Semitic incitement, was first published in Russia on August 26, 1903. The book purports to be written evidence of a vast and secret Jewish conspiracy to dominate the world.

anti-semitism

(US Holocaust Memorial Museum)

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the most widely distributed anti-Semitic publication in modern history, was first published in Znamya, a Russian newspaper, on August 26, 1903. Based on anti-Semitic stereotypes and claims of a Jewish plot for world domination, it remains a widespread propaganda instrument used by the Hamas terrorist organization and other Jew-hating groups and countries to promote anti-Semitism and violence against the Jewish people and the State of Israel.

Despite its success, the Protocols is known to be a plagiarized version of an 1864 literary satire – Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu, by French author Maurice Joly – which included no references to Jews or Judaism. The author of Protocols, believed to have been written in Paris near the end of the 19th century, revised the original dialogue in the piece, replacing it with an alleged conference of international Jewish leaders – perhaps an allusion to the First Zionist Congress held in Basle, Switzerland, in 1897.

At the time of its initial publication, The Protocols drew little attention. More than a decade later, however, after World War I, it provoked anti-Jewish incitement, resulting in a wave of deadly pogroms following the Russian Revolution of 1917 and contributing to the genocidal Nazi propaganda in the 1930s and 1940s, even though it was proven to be fraudulent in 1921 by The London Times.

Its anti-Semitic indoctrination is used to this day by countries and terrorist groups working to annihilate the Jewish State as well as by anti-Semites the world over.

Anti-Semitism in Egypt

An Egyptian TV host called the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” text a “matter of indisputable science,” MEMRI reported in 2012. (MEMRI)

Only recently – in April – Osama Al-Qawasmi, a representative of Palestinian Authority Chair Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah Party, speaking on PA TV, quoted from The Protocols and referred to the content of that fabricated anti-Semitic document as true.

The Internet has helped to spread its anti-Jewish doctrine, apparently contributing to the global rise of anti-Semitism and hostility towards the State of Israel. Anti-Jewish social networks and websites often promote conspiracy theories, including the Protocols.

“Although the exact origin of The Protocols is unknown, its intent was to portray Jews as conspirators against the state.”, the Holocaust Encyclopedia explains. “In 24 chapters, or protocols, allegedly minutes from meetings of Jewish leaders, the Protocols ‘describes’ the ‘secret plans’ of Jews to rule the world by manipulating the economy, controlling the media, and fostering religious conflict.”

“If ever a piece of writing could produce mass hatred, it is this one. . . . This book is about lies and slander,” Holocaust survivor, renowned author and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel stated