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Jew Bashing
N
°thing surprises me when it comes to the Arab world's
drumbeat of lies about the degrading impact of Jews
on American life and America's friendship with Israel.
An egregious example of Arab hatred toward Jews surfaced
in the Kuwaiti daily AI-Siyassa. The Middle East Media
Research Institute exposed the sham this week. MEMRI is a
respected, independent watchdog that specializes in removing
the cloak of deception from reports emanating from the ter-
ror-ridden region.
On Jan. 16, Al-Siyassa singed the legacies of three American
heroes: Ben Franklin, George Washington and Thomas
Jefferson. It tried shamelessly to say that
America has become hostage to and endan-
gered by the Jews, as Franklin predicted and
which the first and third presidents feared.
In the article "Satanic Spirits and American
Documents," Muhammad Yousef Al-Malifi
rehashes Franklin's "Prophecy." This Nazi
hoax first was told in the 1935 German book
Handbook On The Jewish Question. The tale
ROBERT A. periodically bubbles up in the Arab press.
SICLAR
"This document spares us the writing of
Editor
1,000 articles about the danger in America's
falling into the hands of Israel, its enslave-
ment to Tel Aviv and what this fall will do to the American
people," Al-Malifi writes.
Thank God for MEMRI. West haters and anti-Zionists
even roam Kuwait, a friend of sorts of the U.S.
cannot change its nature."
Al-Malifi ends by speaking to Franklin's ght)st: "If only you
could see what has happened to your people, and how your
prophecy — about the establishment of a country of devils at
the expense of your wretched people — has come true!"
In 1954, the Anti-Defamation League investigated the
"Prophecy" and held that it not only was a fraud exacerbated
by the Nazis, but also that anti-Jewish behavior was antitheti-
cal to Franklin, a liberal religious thinker who gave to the
Hebrew Society of Philadelphia.
Revisionist History
According to MEMRI, Al-Malifis remarks came within three
months of Al-Manar TV's interview with Lebanese journalist
Arafat Nizam Al-Din, who said: "Israel and the Zionist lobby
have succeeded in infiltrating every juncture of American
political life over the course of years through persistent effort."
"We don't want the U.S. to work for Arab interests. We
want it to work for its own interests," Al-Din said.
Al-Din argues that U.S. founding fathers like Washington
and Jefferson saw Jews as enemies of the young nation and
feared they would attempt a takeover. Al-Din should get a
grip on history. There's not a shred of evidence that either
Washington or Jefferson hated or feared Jews.
This is what the newly elected Washington wrote to congre-
gants of the new Touro Synagogue in Newport, RI., in 1790,
a year before the Bill of Rights was ratified, to assure them of
religious freedom: "May the children of the Stock of
Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy
Fool's Gold
the good will of the other inhabitants, while everyone shall sit
in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be
The forged prophecy is set in 1787 Philadelphia, at the
none to make him afraid."
Constitutional Convention. In it, Franklin, 81, "warns" that
Researcher Michael Feldberg of the
Jews would immigrate in great numbers,
American
Jewish Historical Society
enslave the Christian population and control
acknowledges that Jefferson opposed all
the economy unless they were expelled from
religions based on Divine revelation,
the new nation by constitutional decree.
including Judaism, "but never wavered in
Al-Malifi alleges that South Carolina delegate
his commitment to civil and religious free-
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney recorded the
dom for Jews."
claim. Pinckney's diary is supposedly at the
"Jefferson's Bill for Establishing Religious
Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, but MEMRI
Freedom
in Virginia," Dr. Feldberg writes
found no such document.
in the article Jefferson and the Jews, "is a
Al-Malifi sets out to prove that "fools have
classic American statement of religious tol-
begun to rule America." The fake document
eration. Significantly, while Jefferson cham-
attributes this to Franklin: "Gentlemen, every-
pioned Jewish rights, he did not do so out
where Jews are and everywhere they settle, they
of respect for Judaism, but because he
bring down the moral level, harm moral decen-
respected the right of every individual to
cy and act to oppress. They always aspire to
hold whichever faith they wished."
suffocate the nation financially and to obtain
Ben Franklin: Friend to Jews.
World Jewry must speak up when hate-
wealth for themselves, as happened in Portugal
mongers like Al-Malifi and Al-Din, who
and Spain over 1,700 years ago."
young Arabs look up to, butcher reality to vilify Jews. Arab
AI-Malifi attributes to Franklin that Jews are bloodsuckers
leaders who remain silent are effectively giving tacit approval.
and extortionists who prefer living among and taking charge
I resent seeing the Jewish people used as a scapegoat for so
of Christians than living in their own land — and who want
many global ills. We've done as much as any ethnic or reli-
to change the American character and identity. Al-Malifi wild-
gious group for tikkun olam — for repair of the world.
ly cites Jewish influence behind America's attack on Iraq.
But it's not just Arabs taking aim at us.
Al-Malifi continues the ruse by attributing these quotes to
Anti-Jewish fervor is sweeping Europe. Feeding off a sour
Franklin: "Gentlemen, if the Jews are not expelled within 100
economy, right-wing extremism is taking root in Germany,
years, our children will work the fields to feed the Jews, while
reminiscent of conditions that fueled Nazism.
the Jews and their children will live in palaces, sign deals,
Many U.S. campuseS are hotbeds for Israel divestment
make money and become intoxicated with joy — while our
drives and attacks on Jewish students, institutions or causes.
children suffer from poverty.
Response of the organized Jewish community has been
"Know that the Jews think that we are not Americans —
that we have no right to America, even though they have lived inconsistent at best, apathetic at worst. U.S. Jewry, the best
organized, must take the lead.
with us for generations. This is because the ravening beast
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2/17
2005
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