FARRAKHAN and the JEWISH RIFT
How It All Started

The Reverend Jesse Jackson was actively contemplating a run for the presidency of the United States of America. He traveled throughout the nation and Black Americans greeted him at every stop with the enthusiastic chant, "Run Jesse, Run!" For the first time in American history, the Black community was galvanized behind a favorite son candidate with a real chance to win. Tens of thousands of Blacks and others began to enter into the political process behind the leadership of their Black champion, Jesse Jackson.

A group of Jews formed an organization called "Jews Against Jackson" and on November 11, 1983 they placed an advertisement in the New York Times with a photograph of Rev. Jackson with Palestine leader Yasir Arafat with the headline:

DO YOU BELIEVE THAT ANY JEW
SHOULD SUPPORT THIS MAN?
SHOULD ANY DECENT AMERICAN?

The ad claimed that Rev. Jackson "IS A DANGER TO AMERICAN JEWS, TO THE STATE OF ISRAEL AND TO AMERICA ITSELF." "We believe," they continued, "that he is building a coalition of malcontents who will be a disaster for Jews, for Israel, for America, for the free world... We are afraid and we intend to act. We intend to pressure national and political leaders to openly condemn Jesse Jackson and cut all political ties and funds to him. WE WILL EXPOSE JESSE JACKSON FOR THE DANGER HE REALLY IS: RUIN JESSE, RUIN!... The Jackson machine is more powerful than you know and we must stop it. YOU CAN STOP IT... JESSE JACKSON IS NO GOOD FOR JEWS, FOR ISRAEL OR FOR AMERICA. STOP HIM. RUIN JESSE, NOW.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines "ruin" as the "total destruction or disintegration." It became clear to many that these open threats created a tension in which Rev. Jackson might have been assassinated.

The "Hitler" Remark-What's the Truth?

February 25, 1984 In a speech given by Min. Farrakhan at a rally for Jackson, Min. Farrakhan noted the unusually bitter attacks on Jackson by Jewish leaders and organizations.

"Now whether you know it or not, anytime a Black man stands up with justice in his mouth, his life is on the line. You know that, don't you brothers and sisters? When Jesse decided to run, Jesse decided to put his life on the line. It is unthinkable that we should let out brother go down into the valley of the shadow of death and we say 'Watch Jesse Run. Look at Jesse go.' It is unthinkable that we should not go down with him so that we may go up with him. I say whether we know it or not, there have been over a hundred real threats on this man's life already and several people are already in jail for thinking, planning to do harm to this brother. What has he done to merit this kind of thinking in the American public? What has he done? I'll tell you what he's done. He's freed the minds of these young Black boys and girls who will never again think that Black people cannot rule themselves and to the top, this is what he's done. What has he done? He stands up for the poor, the oppressed and the locked out. What has he done? He's extended his hand to the American Indian, the owners of the country who languish on reservations while others live from the riches of their land. He reaches out to the Mexican American, to the Hispanic American. He reaches out to the poor and to the women. But there's another segment that he reaches out to. He reaches out to Arab Americans. No president or no presidential candidate goes to the Arab seeking Arab American votes. Reverend Jesse Jackson has the nerve to do that because he had the nerve to want to include all, not some, he's hated.

I'm saying to the Jewish people who may not like our brother, it is not Jesse Jackson that you are attacking. Remember this now. You're not attacking an individual. Jesse's gone past that now. When you attack him, you attack the millions that are lining up with him. You're attacking all of us. That's not intelligent. That's not an intelligent thing to do. That's not wise. We know that Blacks and Jews have had a good relationship in the past. We've gotten along well, because you're a suffering people and so are we. But my dear Jewish friends, you must understand that everything comes of age. We cannot define our self interest in terms of your self interest. And because our self interests differ because we've come of age, why dislike us? Why attack our champion? Why hurl stones at him? Why feed the Press so that they can create a climate into which hatred and bitterness and strife can be poured, creating the same kind of climate that led to the assassination of John Kennedy, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and Bobby Kennedy. Why create that kind of climate when you have the power to turn it around and show the world that you have sense? Don't you realize what you're doing? Press, don't you realize what you're doing? Are you blind as the government? And if the blind lead the blind, both fall in the ditch. You are blind.

You do not realize that 35 to 45 percent of your armed forces are Black. It is we who you will send to Nicaragua. It is we who you sent to Grenada. It is we who you sent to Lebanon. It is we who will be sent to fight your wars. This is our brother. This is our son. This is our champion. If you harm this brother, what do you think we should do about it? How can we fight for America, if America kills all of our fighters who fight for justice? This is a foolish thing that you are doing.

I say to you as intelligent people, sit down and talk with Rev. Jackson. Sit down Jewish leaders and talk with us. We are ready to talk with you. Sit down and talk like intelligent people who have future at stake. But if you harm this brother, I warn you in the name of Allah, this will be the last one you harm. We are not making any idle threats, we have no weapons, we [don't] carry so much as a pen knife. But I do tell the world that Almighty God Allah is Backing us up in what we say and what we do, and we warn you in His name --leave this servant of Almighty God alone. Leave him alone. If you want to defeat him, defeat him at the polls. We can stand to lose an election, but we cannot stand to lose our brother..."

February 27, 1984 -- Based on this appeal, Nathan Pearlmutter of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith (ADL) referred to Minister Farrakhan as a new "Black Hitler." Nat Hentoff, a Jewish leader and columnist for the tabloid Village Voice participated in a New York radio call-in show and also characterized the Muslim leader as a "Black Hitler."

March 11, 1984 -- Minister Farrakhan responded to this insult in a radio broadcast from Chicago:

"...So I said to the members of the press, "Why won't you go and look into what we are saying about the threats on Reverend Jackson's life?' Here the Jews don't like Farrakhan and so they call me 'Hitler.' Well that's a good name. Hitler was a very great man. He wasn't great for me as a Black man but he was a great German and he rose Germany up from the ashes of her defeat by the united force of all of Europe and America after the first world war. Yet Hitler took Germany from the ashes and rose her up and made her the greatest fighting machine of the twentieth century, brothers and sisters, and even though Europe and America had deciphered the code that Hitler was using to speak to his chief[s] of staff, they still had trouble defeating Hitler even after knowing his plans in advance. Now I'm not proud of Hitler's evil toward Jewish people, but that's a matter of record. He rose Germany up from nothing. Well, in a sense you could say there is a similarity in that we are rising our people up from nothing, but don't compare me with your wicked killers."

"Why would we tolerate this? I've been among Black people as a teacher from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad for nearly thirty years. I'm not a stranger in America. I have lectured in every major university and college and theological seminary in this country. I'm well known by my brothers and sisters who are scholarly. I have addressed every major Black organization that there is. I ask, why should we submit when a White man calls one of our Black brothers a Hitler that we don't rise up and take them to task? You wait for Farrakhan to come and defend himself, though I am a defender of Black people. Not that it matters to me whether you defend me or defend me not. That's up to you. But that would show some gratitude on your part for the work of your brother. I am defended by God and He's sufficient for me, He and his Apostle, but, when you can allow the enemy to call your leaders anything they want to and get away with it, then you are selling yourself again into slavery."

Immediately the Media was filled with Jewish charges that Minister Farrakhan praised Adolph Hitler.

Great?

"Great" is a word that is assigned to anything that has a lasting influence or consequence. The twelve volume Oxford English Dictionary uses four pages to define "great" and only one of the definitions suggests a positive or laudatory connotation. The others refer to the size or magnitude, quantity or scope of a thing or event. Webster's Unabridged Third New International Dictionary goes even further. Its primary definition refers to a "large spatial dimension," but it later defines "great" as somebody who is prominent or of renown and then uses the examples of "a politician" or "a dictator" or "a creator of political confusion." Adolph Hitler was all three.

[Black people in America] did not write Webster's Dictionary nor did they freely choose to speak English, that is a language picked up from the slave master. If Minister Farrakhan simply called Hitler "great," he would have been entirely correct -- according to Mr. Webster -- but he thoughtfully expressed his belief that Hitler was an evil wicked killer.

Americans consider all the followings things "great:"
Earthquakes that register over eight on the Richter scale, wars, disasters, massacres, revolutions, political purges, China and the former Soviet Union, non of which they would consider "good." Some "great" events, people and places in history: The Great Train Robbery, Babylon, Alexander the Great, the Great Depression, The Great White Shark, Great Britain, the Great Wall of China, the 1929 stock market crash, the Hindenburgh disaster, Caesar, his ghost -- their "goodness" is, at best, debatable. In the realm of evil and wickedness Adolph Hitler was a great man.

Jewish leaders unanimously attacked Rev. Jesse Jackson and his friend and ally, Nation of Islam leader, Minister Louis Farrakhan. NBC, CBS, ABC, all major newspapers and wire services purposely distorted the words of Minister Louis Farrakhan in an attempt to harm the candidacy of the Rev. Jackson.

Judaism a "gutter-religion"?

Many Jews persist in claiming that Min. Farrakhan referred to Judaism as a "gutter religion." Here is a the actual statement from a speech on June 24, 1984 upon his return to America from Libya:

"...America and England and the nations backed Israel's existence. Therefore when you aid and abet someone in a criminal conspiracy, you are a part of that criminal conspiracy. So America and England and the nations are criminals in the sight of almighty God. Now, that nation of Israel, never has had any peace in forty years and she will never have any peace because there can never be any peace structured on injustice, thievery, lying and deceit and using the name of God to shield your dirty religion under His holy and righteous name."

"America and England and the nations, because of their backing of Israel are being drawn into the heat of the third world war, which is called Armageddon. Oh America, you have blundered so. And instead of recognizing the mistakes your have made and turn for the better, you persist in your evil. And so the consequences of evil must come. You hate us because we dare say that we are the chosen people of God and can back it up..."

Minister Farrakhan used the term "dirty-religion" to describe the practices and policies of some Jews in the State of Israel. Many Jews consider that the Zionist Israelis are racists and do not believe that Israel is the fulfillment of divine prophesy---many prominent Jews including Israel Shahak and MIT professor Noam Chomsky, consider Israel to be "an apartheid state." They have publicly joined many other Jews in condemning the treatment and even the torture of Palestinians by the state of Israel. Like Minister Farrakhan, they believe that these wicked practices are a strain on the teachings of Moses and on the true practitioners of the Jewish faith.

Minister Farrakhan regularly teaches that "Muslim sheiks who live in opulence [from the riches of oil] when their people live in squalor are practicing a dirty religion." Christians that give the poor a Bible and then exploit their faith and take their natural resources, in the name of God, have dirtied that religion. Television evangelists who thrive off of the faith of the gullible and ignorant, have dirtied the religion. Minister Farrakhan is 100% correct and perfectly truthful in this matter.

In addition to this, no true religion can possibly be a "gutter" religion. The truths brought by the Prophets were revealed to bring people up out of the gutter and this work lies the value of religion. If a person truly follows the law of Moses, he/she is a friend of the Nation of Islam.
[Reprinted newsletter, "Blacks And Jews News" Fall/Winter, 1994, A Publication of The Historical Research Department]