Adapted from a lecture delivered at Georgetown University's Symposium on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion on April 24-25, 2023.
Introduction
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is one of the oldest antisemitic tropes, dating back to the beginning of the 20th century. It has been studied by several pioneering scholars. First, by the renowned scholar Norman Cohn in his landmark book Warrant for Genocide: The Myth of the Jewish World Conspiracy and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and then by Prof. Yehoshefat Harkabi (in his book Arab Attitudes to Israel) and Judge Hadassah Ben-Itto (author of The Lie That Wouldn't Die: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion). MEMRI follows in their footsteps and continues the research of the Protocols, focusing primarily on the Arab and Muslim world. This article will focus on the Arab world in particular. A more comprehensive 200-page collection of the Protocols in Farsi,[1] in Turkish,[2] and in Urdu[3] has been published separately by MEMRI on our website.
Historical And Spiritual Roots
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion are one of two antisemitic conspiracy theories borrowed by Arab and Muslim antisemitism from Western Christian antisemitism (the second is the blood libel). These conspiracy theories draw their legitimacy in the Arab and Muslim world from ancient Islamic and Christian foundations according to which Jews are devious and malicious enemies of God.
In particular, there is a hostile Islamic stereotype of Jews that has its roots in the Prophet Muhammad's conflicts with the Jews of the Arabian Peninsula in the early 7th century. These stereotypes are expressed in the Quran, which describes the Jews as a nation that is guilty of killing God's prophets (for example, An-Nisa Chapter, Verse 155) and that is destined for humiliation and misery due to their sinful nature (for example, Al-Baqarah Chapter, Verse 61).
The demonization of Jews is also prevalent in Islamic tradition, according to which it was divinely revealed to the Prophet Muhammad that the Jews of the Banu Nadhir and Banu Qurayza tribes in Medina, with whom he had signed treaties, were plotting to assassinate him. This prompted the Prophet Muhammad to exterminate one of these tribes and expel the other.
Over the centuries, Islamic historiography has extensively justified Muhammad's actions against the Jews by asserting that they deserved it, repeating his messages and actions. It should be emphasized that for Muslim believers, everything that the Prophet Muhammad is believed to have done or said is not merely historically important, but also serves as a normative model of behavior.
In addition, Sunni historians have traditionally placed the blame for the earliest and most traumatic schism in Islam between Shi'a and the Sunna on a secret Jewish conspiracy put into effect by a certain Yemenite Jew, 'Abdallah ibn Saba', who outwardly converted to Islam with the intention of subverting it from within. Thus, the most critical event, from the Muslim point of view, in the early history of Islam, was the result of a Jewish plot to corrupt and ruin it. Hence, the idea that the Jews are conspiratorial and evil in nature is not unfamiliar in Islam.
Early Christian tradition also presents the Jews in a negative light. The Jews are guilty of rejecting the divinity of Jesus and of being involved indirectly in his crucifixion, as mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew (27:25): "All the people answered, 'His blood is on us and on our children!'" It is important to note, however, that in 1965, Pope Paul VI promulgated the Nostra aetate (Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions), which repudiated the idea that the Jews are guilty for Jesus' death.[4]
"Fabricated Or Not, The Protocols Describe Reality"
Given these roots, the question of whether the 24 protocols supposedly stolen from the first Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897 are authentic documents or a Tsarist secret police fabrication is of minor relevance within the larger context of Arab and Muslim antisemitism. This is because according to Arab and Muslim antisemitism, the Protocols are not merely a compilation of documents or a book. Rather, they reflect a certain perspective on history and on reality, and they are a key to understanding the past, the present, and – if nothing is done to stop the Jews – the future, as well.
Indeed, the question of the veracity of the Protocols is decades old, and since the Berne Trial of the early 1930s, the conclusion among antisemites has consistently been that whether the Protocols are authentic or not is irrelevant because reality unfolds in accordance with the conspiracies they describe. The same conclusion is reflected in the Arab and Muslim discourse about the Protocols.
According to this worldview, the star actors in this conspiracy were at first Theodor Herzl and the Rothschild family. Over the years, even many wealthy and influential non-Jews such as the Morgan and Rockefeller families (among others) were added to the list of those Jews plotting world domination.
All in all, this Jewish Zionist global conspiracy – thus the theory claims – enjoys terrific success. The Jews indeed control the world. Evil has won over good, and the Satanic forces have overpowered the forces of good everywhere on the planet.
What Is The Role And Function Of The Protocols Conspiracy?
This conspiratorial worldview – with or without written protocols or documents – serves several important functions in the Arab and Muslim world:
Like it did for the Nazis, the Protocols justifies the goal of annihilating the Jews. For the Arabs, it would also justify annihilating the State of Israel.
It resolves two cognitive dissonances afflicting Arab and Muslim societies. First, it explains why the Arabs have failed in their struggle against Israel: were it not for the global Jewish-Zionist conspiracy, Israel would have been wiped out long ago. Second, it explains why Muslim societies are unable to compete with the West – the Jewish conspiracy employs various means to leave them in the dust.
"In the Islamic Republic of Iran, this conspiratorial worldview is at the foundation of the Islamic Revolution's ideology, according to which the Jew has been transformed from an impure and miserable entity (Najs) to an all-powerful satanic figure that opposes the Islamic world and is at the root of all of the Islamic world's predicaments. According to the Iranian regime's ideology, it is necessary to fight the Jews the same way that one fights cancer, and to wipe them and their satanic influence off the face of the earth.
The Prevalence Of The Protocols In The Arab World
Over the years, the Protocols have become increasingly widespread, particularly as there are more global developments that they serve to explain and understand. Indeed, the very prevalence of the Protocols reflects how great the demand is for them.
Like with other forms of hate propaganda, the advent of the Internet and social media – namely Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok – has led to an explosion in the prevalence of the Protocols in the Arab world. In the past, the Protocols were only available in print form and therefore had relatively limited reach.
The social media companies are guilty of at least two great crimes: First, their terrible irresponsibility and failure to implement their own policies against hate propaganda on their platforms; Second, they give antisemites power that they didn't enjoy when they were dependent on print media alone. It is also noteworthy that copies of the Protocols are available for purchase on Amazon.com.
The plots described in the Protocolshave been discussed by many prominent Arab cultural figures. As soon as the Protocols were translated into Arabic in the mid-20th century, they were viewed positively by renowned Egyptian author Abbas Mahmoud Al-'Aqqad, who was a pillar in the 20th-century Arab intellectual renaissance.[5] He wrote in the foreword to the second edition of the translation: "Whether the Protocols are historic fact or fictional, I can personally testify that there is a huge mechanism in action, from Istanbul to America and South Africa… The Protocols are one of the pieces of evidence proving the existence of a global cabal that is advancing its goals."
The Protocols have even been accepted by political leaders: former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who was the leading figure in Pan-Arabism, told the Indian English-language newspaper Blitz as early as 1958 that the Protocols are a "very important" book that "proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that 300 Zionists […] govern the fate of the European Continent";[6] in 1977, recently re-elected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wrote, directed, and starred in a play called Maskomya – an acronym for "Masons, Communists, Yahud [i.e. Jews]", all of whom are guilty in the conspiracies described in the Protocols; in the 1970s, Saudi Arabia's King Faisal warned – of all people – U.S. State Secretary Henry Kissinger of the danger posed by Jewish-Bolshevik plots similarly described in the Protocols.
At a government museum exhibition about the holy books of the monotheistic religions hosted by the University of Alexandria in 2003, the Protocols were displayed next to the Torah, the New Testament, and the Quran. It was only thanks to a U.S. diplomat in Cairo, who rushed to Alexandria to take a picture of the exhibit, that the story came to light, ultimately resulting in the removal of the exhibit.
Just recently, a copy of the Protocols was visible on display on a table in the waiting room of the Central Council of Palestinians in Germany.[7]
The Protocols have been referred to in schoolbooks, such as the History of the Modern and Contemporary World, Grade 10, which was issued by the Palestinian Authority.[8]
The Protocols are also commonly referred to by Islamic clerics and scholars, they appear in media reports, and they have been dramatized in recent years in family-oriented Ramadhan TV shows such as Al-Shatat and Knight Without a Horse.[9]
For several examples, see the following clip:
Holocaust Denial Is An Inseparable Part Of HolThe Protocols Conspiracy
One great difficulty arises, however: the theory of the Jews' satanic omnipotence is incompatible with the facts of history, and particularly with the Holocaust. How can it be claimed that the evil, all-powerful Jews are so successful in their plot for world domination when in fact one third of world Jewry was wiped out in the Holocaust?
The only way to avoid this glaring contradiction is to deny the Holocaust. Hence, Holocaust denial is an inevitable and inseparable part of the Protocols conspiracy.
Indeed, there are also those who perversely recognize that the Holocaust took place, but justify it. One noteworthy example is recently-deceased Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, pictured being kissed by Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Aal-Thani. Al-Qaradhawi said on the Qatari state-run Al-Jazeera Network in 2009 that Allah imposed Hitler upon the Jews as a punishment for their corruption, and that "Allah willing, the next time will be at the hands of the believers."
There are also those who solve the contradiction between the conspiracy and the Holocaust by claiming that the Jews actually collaborated with the Nazis, as was claimed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the introduction to the Arabic translation of his doctorate thesis.
The only other resolution to the contradiction between historical facts and the Jewish conspiracy theory would be to dismiss the conspiracy. Unfortunately, very few individuals choose this path. These notable individuals include: recently-deceased secularist Syrian intellectual Sadiq Jalal Al-Azm, the author of Self-Criticism Following Our Defeat[10]; political advisor to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Dr. Osama Al-Baz, who in 2002 published a series of articles in the Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram in which he debunked some of the most notorious antisemitic myths, particularly the Protocols, the blood libel, and Holocaust denial; and Egyptian academic Dr. Abd Al-Wahhab Al-Masiri, the author of the Arabic-language eight-volume Encyclopedia of Jews, Judaism, and Zionism, who has written a book about the Protocols titled The Protocols, Judaism, and Zionism and who said that the Protocols are inauthentic and "100% laughable and foolish plagiarism."[11] Notably, a new approach towards Judaism has emerged in the most morally advanced Arab country, the UAE, which in recent years has launched interfaith dialogues.
The Protocols, Judaism, and Zionism by Dr. Abd Al-Wahhab Al-Masiri
The following clip further demonstrates how the Protocols are propagated by political figures, popular culture figures, intellectuals, and terrorist organizations such as the Iraqi Hizbullah Brigades, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and even the Houthis in far-off Yemen.
Appendix I – MEMRI Reports Referring To The Protocols
Note: The followings links to MEMRI reports and clips provide the date, speaker, source, summary, and full translation of references to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in MEMRI's archives, which go back 25 years.
[4] Vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651028_nostra-aetate_en.html, October 28, 1965.
[5] They were also viewed positively by Egyptian writer Ahmad Al-Amin, one of the most prominent cultural figures in Egypt in the 1940s and the 1950s. In addition, renowned Lebanese journalist Ghassan Tueni: "Had we not known that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion were forged by Russian intelligence in the 19th century… we would say that what is happening in the world today is exactly what world Jewry planned, due to the great similarity [between what's actually happening and] what is falsely attributed to [world Jewry]. [I refer] to the conspiracy to take over the world and to plunder it; to the deeds [of world Jewry] everywhere, and to the financial, political, and military status [world Jewry] has attained. This is in addition to their attempt to destroy everything that others hold sacred." Source: Al-Ayyam (Palestinian Authority), March 28, 2000. The article is taken from the Lebanese daily Al-Nahar.
[6] Yehoshefat Harkabi, Arab Attitudes to Israel, page 235 in the English version (2017, paperback, Routledge).
[7] Juedische-allgemeine.de/politik/zentralrat-der-palaestinenser-entschuldigt-sich-fuer-auslage-der-protokolle-der-weisen-von-zion/, April 14, 2023.
[8] The textbook reads: "There is a group of confidential resolutions adopted by the Congress and known by the name The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the goal of which was world domination. They were brought to light by Sergey Nilos and translated into Arabic by Muhammad Khalifah Al-Tunisi." The reference to the Protocols was removed in editions published after 2006.
[10] June 2007, Muhammad Ghaith Al-Hajj Hussein Publications.
[11] In a statement to Reuters from May 24, 2004. See: Arabphilosophers.com/Arabic/aphilosophers/acontemporary/acontemporary-names/Abdl-Wahab%20Elmessiri/Material/IOL_Zionist_Conspiracy_Big_Lie.htm.
