Lies fan hatred of Jews

On the surface lies and jokes may appear harmless. Many of the lies about Jews are so absurd it’s hard to imagine that anyone would believe them. But they do. Anti-Semitism and hatred for Jews are fanned by lies and jokes dating back centuries.

In the 14th century, a sickening lie “Blood Libel” made the claim that Jews kill Christian children for their blood to make matzo (unleavened bread). To this day it is still circulated. Also in the 14th century Jews were blamed for poisoning wells across Europe causing the Black Plague.

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, written in 1905 by agents of the Russian czar, claims to be minutes of secret Jewish meetings where they planned to rule the world. It is the most notorious anti-Semitic collection of lies widely distributed. Although discredited, it is still circulated worldwide, notably in heavily populated Muslim countries.

According to a wild “report” by Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV, the fictional hero “Superman” was a Jewish invention designed to “take over the greatest superpower in the world. A common lie is that Jews control or own the banks, media and governments. This is also ridiculous as Jews comprise less than three tenths of one percent of the world’s population.

According to worldwide surveys, anti-Semitism is rising and at a level matching that of Germany in the 1930s.

In 2006, cartoons and editorials in Arab/Muslim media ridiculously claimed that Jews were manipulating Pope Benedict XVI to attack Islam.

In September 2006 The New York Sun reported that a tenured professor at the University of Chicago at Cooper Union blamed the “Israel Lobby” in America for both the Iraq war and the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He was met with support from two other professors, Tony Judt of New York University and Rashid Khalidi of Columbia University.

Ismail Radwan, minister of Religious Affairs in Gaza’s Hamas government, claimed that Israel is trying to cause an artificial earthquake to totally collapse the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The comments came at an event organized by female students at the College for Professional Applied Sciences. Israel has also been blamed for the earthquake that caused a tsunami causing the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant disaster in Japan.

Shortly after the World Trade Center disaster Al-Manar TV (Beirut, Lebanon) claimed that the 4000 Israelis working at the WTC did not show up for work on the day the incident occurred This would be approximately 15 percent of the total victims of the WTC attacks. The facts prove otherwise. Out of 658 Cantor Fitzgerald employees at least 49 Jewish employees died.

How bad must it get for the Jewish people to start speaking out against the preponderance of lies?

Ed Ziegler can be reached at Brooklyn13@Embarqmail.com or at 352-750-3298.