Holocaust – Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)

The Big Lie of the Protocols of Elders of Zion Shows How Hate Kills

Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel stated “the Holocaust began with words.”

There were words that sought to promote hate to Jews and to other minorities in Nazi Germany. Among the first of these was the apocryphal anti-Semitic screed promoted in Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and in Hitler’s speeches from 1921 forward, viewing “The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion,” an apocryphal claim of a plot for Jews to control the world, as factual.

Originally created by forgers in Tsarist Russia, the anti-Semitic “Protocols of Elders of Zion” fraudulently claims of an organized Jewish plot to take over the world. Where this hate screed has been sold in book form, its cover shows a hate image of a snake with the Star of David all over its body encircling the world. This image was part of Henry Makow’s recent article, re-posted by a NYC blogger, promoting the “Protocols” as fact. (It should give pause to many that this NYC blogger also promotes protests against Muslim mosques in America.)

UnitedStatesAction.com has captured on the Internet, the 1921 London Times articles proving “The Protocols” are a forgery. It provides a transcript of Philip Graves’ articles published in the London Times, August 16 to 18, 1921, entitled “The Protocols of Zion – An Exposure.” Philip Graves’ articles go into detailed historical analysis to prove the apocryphal nature of the hoax documents.

But despite their exposure as a total fraud and forgery, Adolf Hitler continued to use the apocryphal, anti-Semitic screed the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” as a rationale to exterminate Jews. When Adolf Hitler came to power, the Nazis made “The Protocols” required reading for German students. In The Holocaust: The Destruction of European Jewry 1933–1945, Nora Levin states that “Hitler used the Protocols as a manual in his war to exterminate the Jews.”

Words of hate kill.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum reports: “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is the most notorious and widely distributed antisemitic publication of modern times. Its lies about Jews, which have been repeatedly discredited, continue to circulate today, especially on the Internet. The individuals and groups who have used the Protocols are all linked by a common purpose: to spread hatred of Jews. The Protocols is entirely a work of fiction, intentionally written to blame Jews for a variety of ills. Those who distribute it claim that it documents a Jewish conspiracy to dominate the world. The conspiracy and its alleged leaders, the so-called Elders of Zion, never existed.”

But the apocryphal “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” did not just fade away with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. The Protocols have also been republished throughout the Middle East and Arab world in contemporary times. In January 2010, Egyptian television station Al-Faraeen broadcast a television series promoting the apocryphal “Protocols” as factual and owner Tawfiq Okasha defended this. (Responsible for Equality And Liberty replied and condemned such promotion of hate screeds.)

The charter of the Foreign Terrorist Organization Hamas explicitly refers to the Protocols of Elder of Zion as factual, and it is referenced in Article 32 of the Hamas Charter.

The apocyrphal “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” have also been widely promoted in Europe and the United States, as well as a wide spread appearance on the Internet. In Turkey, the “Protocols” remains one of the most popular books. In the 1920s, American automobile tycoon Henry Ford published 500,000 copies of the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” to be distributed across America.

There have been contemporary books that have addressed the apocryphal nature of this book such as the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s (SWC) Stephen L. Jacobs “Dismantling the Big Lie: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” and Will Eisner’s “The Plot: The Secret History of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”

But we should not believe that the anti-Semitic apocryphal hate screed “the Protocols” is limited to history, conspiracy theorists, the Middle East, or Nazi supporters. Hate has no expiration date, no borders, no races, and no single religion. Like a virus, hate can spread from the worst to the best of us, and hate can contaminate and destroy us all.

My own personal contact with the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” came with what I would have thought to be an unlikely source – the U.S. mainstream church, the Presbyterian Church (USA) or PCUSA. This was my first contact with the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” other than reading about it in history books. Back in 2004, I learned that a PCUSA group supported by the Presbyterian Peacemakers held an event at Wooster College where the “Protocols” was promoted as fact and the Israeli flag was show morphed into a swastika. Regardless of your views on Israeli politics or foreign policy, there remains no question that the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” is an anti-Semitic forgery and hate screed.

As a Christian, I felt the responsibility to speak out to members of the Presbyterian Church (USA) on this subject. Therefore, I reached out to hundreds and hundreds of PCUSA leaders, members, and pastors on this issue. I purchased and sent copies of Professor Stephen Jacob’s book “Dismantling the Big Lie,” to Presbyterian leaders, including the individual who organized the conference where “The Protocols” was presented as fact.

Later, I traveled to Ohio’s Wooster College myself to speak as a Christian to other Christians on the need to reject such anti-Semitic hate, where Professor Stephen Jacobs spoke to assembled Presbyterians at the Wooster College. It was clear that some were still not persuaded, and as I stood in the doorway of the exit speaking to one of the leaders of the pro-Protocols conference, I knew that he too was not convinced. Nor was there any apology coming from representatives of the Presbyterian Peacemakers at the Wooster College that I met. While the Wooster College apologized for the incident, over six years later, I have never seen a public apology by the PCUSA for a PCUSA-sponsored group holding an event promoting of the “Protocols of Elders of Zion” as factual.

So when you think that promotion of such hate screeds are limited to conspiracy theorists, bigots, and extremists, think again. To those who think that standing up against anti-Semitic hate is just a “Jewish” responsibility and does not affect other religious, racial, and minority groups, also think again. As Professor Jacobs concludes in his book “The Big Lie,” “because there is no sense of internal logic to either prejudice or hatred, it remains quite possible that those who hate the Jews as well as these other group will tomorrow adapt such notions to them. The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion will remain within the arsenal of those who specifically hate the Jews, but it is equally possible that the false and malicious arguments of the Protocols will be adapted to meet other needs and other agendas.”

Professor Jacobs also states that “People need to see the lies for themselves and the refutation of the lies…we must educate the young people the world over to be textually analytical and discriminating when it comes to materials which make startling and/or grandiose claims that serve to divide the human community from itself even further than it has been in the past or which challenge the legitimacy of group or subgroup.”

And to those who think that apocryphal hate screeds such as the anti-Semitic “Protocols of Elders of Zion” have no impact on American society, think again.

This week, in America’s nation’s capital (and my home) in the Washington DC area, once again a Jewish synagogue, in a DC area Maryland suburb, has been defaced with swastikas, slurs, and even death threats.

Hate is alive in America.

But so is Love.

We can choose which one that will be the compass for our lives and our interactions with other people.

The motto of the Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) group is:

Choose Love, Not Hate – Love Wins.

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NOTE: After Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, the united nations of the world gathered to develop a Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was its own way of stating “Never Again.” The Universal Declaration of Human Rights calls for freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, and freedom of worship – for EVERYONE.

Article 18 reads: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”

A Terrorist Attack We Must NOT Forget

A year ago, on June 10, 2009, in Washington DC, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum was attacked by a white supremacist, Holocaust denier James Von Brunn, who sought to enter the museum with a rifle to kill Jews. In his murderous rage, he shot and killed black security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns, who was in Von Brunn’s way. The terrorist James Von Brunn was shot and stopped by security guard Harry Weeks and other security guards, and Von Brunn died in a prison hospital on January 6, 2010.

Bullet strikes are seen in one of the doors to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum after a shooting left a security officer dead and the gunman wounded in Washington Thursday, June 11, 2009.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon) — June 10, 2009 Terror Attack (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) has been reporting on the growth of white supremacist and anti-Semitic hatred (as well as other identity group hatred) long before last year’s attack, and long after it. We have continued to report on the June 10, 2009 Holocaust Memorial Museum attack news reports, as well as the related news not reported by major media outlets. We pointed out how some sought to use the terrorist attack to prevent hate crime laws from being passed. We pointed out out those who supported Von Brunn’s terrorism and called for further acts of hate and violence. We pointed out those who sought to promote racial hatred in America’s national capital. Moreover, we didn’t just passively report such issues, but we held public events to raise awareness on these issues, and we actively protested such hate. We felt that was part of our obligation in being “responsible for equality and liberty.”

We don’t see anything “left-wing” or “right-wing” about defying such hate. We just view defying hate as simply following the truths that we hold self-evident as Americans, and the dignity that we should all enjoy as human beings.

We know that the June 10, 2009 terrorist attack was motivated by HATE.

The terrorist Von Brunn himself documented his philosophy in writing to a Nazi sympathizer in Germany, stating that hate was “natural, normal and necessary,” and that “compassionate nations” would “die.”

This philosophy of terrorist hate should give us all pause to reflect. If anything were to be learned from the June 10, 2009 terrorist attack, it is the cancerous destruction that hate will cause.

In our support for our universal human rights of equality and liberty, we offer another approach. While we defy hate, we also offer an outstretched hand, not an upraised fist, to those who hate. We urge those who hate to release such burden of hate from their hearts and to join us in defending our human rights, which are also their human rights.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is intended to remember the worst atrocity committed against an identity group in human history. When such a place is itself the target of terrorist hatred, it should be a severe warning signal for Americans and all human beings. But that warning signal has been scrupulously ignored, as has the terrorist attack itself been largely forgotten. Even worse, some have sought to rationalize hate against other identity groups themselves, and sadly like Von Brunn, have come to view that compassion is only for the weak.

The cancer of hate has continued to spread. Months after the June 10, 2009 terrorist attack, I saw some people with signs in the streets of Washington DC promoting racial hatred, some carrying signs with swastikas, and some with signs spewing vulgar and obscene messages. Racial supremacist and anti-Semitic groups have sought to promote their cause in our nation’s capital and around the country. On our public airwaves, there are those openly call for bombing houses of worship, who openly promote racist views, who question American legislation designed to guarantee our civil rights, and who ultimately believe that hate is the answer to our nation’s and to the world’s problems.

The lesson that has been taught by the Holocaust has been summarized as “Never Again.”

The lesson that the June 10, 2009 terrorist attack on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum must teach us is “Never Again to Hate.”

That is a lesson that too many are not interested in hearing about. But if we ever seek to be responsible for equality and liberty, it is our most vital lesson to be learned.

For many reasons, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum terror attack must not be forgotten. But on June 10, 2010, a year later, there was little interest in remembering it. Washington DC area mainstream newspapers only posted AP wire reports to their web sites buried in the “local news sections,” and the private remembrance by staff of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum was covered primarily by Washington DC television stations on their web sites that cover “local” news. Such a terror attack of hate is no longer viewed as “national” news.

In addition to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum‘s private event, the USHMM has also urged citizens to make a donation to the Stephen Tyrone Johns Summer Youth Leadership Program Endowment Fund, and it has posted a web link to some of the comments by Americans over the past year about the attack and the murder of Stephen Tyrone Johns. We applaud their efforts to remember.

We Will Remember Stephen Tyrone Johns (Photo: U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum)

In terms of public activism, however, we believe that American citizens also have an obligation to do their part, in remembering this terrorist attack. We are holding a public event to remember the event. We also urge those who seek to express their commitment to challenging hate to share your thoughts with us at info@realcourage.org, and we will share your statements on our web site.

On Sunday, June 13 at 2 PM, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) is hosting a public remembrance in Washington DC of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum attack and the murder of Stephen Tyrone Johns. We have invited the public to join us in this public remembrance, and to share their testimonies of the need to promote tolerance, dignity, respect, and equality for our fellow human beings.

We will hold this public remembrance at Freedom Plaza in Washington DC, near where Martin Luther King, Jr. worked on his speech “I Have A Dream.” We too, have a dream, of human dignity, of human rights, and of equality and liberty – not just for all American, but also for all human beings. We have a dream of our fellow human beings united to be responsible for equality and liberty.

But we know that we cannot begin to make that dream a reality without defying and denying the cancerous growth of hatred in our nation, in our society, and around the world.

On June 13, when we publicly remember the terrorist attack on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, our united message will be “Never Again to Hate.”

Choose Love, Not Hate. Love Wins.

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June 13 – “Never Again” to Hate Public Remembrance

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)
https://www.realcourage.org/never-again/

On Sunday June 13, 2010, at 2 PM, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) invites Washingtonians to a public event to remember the June 10, 2009 attack on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and to remember the loss of Stephen Tyrone Johns. Choose love, not hate.

We will recall the attack by white supremacist and Holocaust denier James Von Brunn on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on June 10, 2009, and urge our fellow American to commit to “never again” to such hate and violence. (Flier for distribution: Microsoft Word format flier 1, Adobe Acrobat format flier 1, Word format flier 2, Adobe Acrobat format flier 2).

We will meet at the Freedom Plaza in Washington DC, near where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. worked on his speech “I Have a Dream,” and will stand united in our diverse religions, ethnicity, and races. We will stand united for equality. We will also say “Never Again” to hate.

Freedom Plaza - Washington DC - 14th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW - Site of April 11 Rally for Chinese Freedom — Freedom Plaza - Washington DC - 14th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW - Site of June 13, 2010 - "Never Again to Hate" Event

We will remember black security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns who was shot to death on June 10, 2009 while on duty defending a museum that stands in remembrance to the Holocaust. We vow that his death will not be in vain, but that such sacrifices will remind us of the need to be ever-vigilant and defiant against the forces of hate that seek to spread in Washington DC and throughout America.

As those who promote hate seek to create ever-increasing numbers of hate groups in America, our message to them is that America will never retreat on hate. But we don’t answer hate with hate. Instead of an upraised fist, we offer outstretched hands and hearts to those who do hate, to urge them to release the burden of hate from their hearts, and join us in defending the universal human rights and dignity of all people.

We urge all – Choose Love, Not Hate. Love Wins.

We also urge all to make a gift to the USHMM Stephen Tyrone Johns Summer Youth Leadership Program Endowment Fund.

Rally Logistics:

— Date: Sunday, June 13, 2010
— Time: 2 to 4 PM Eastern Daylight Savings Time
— Location: Freedom Plaza, Washington DC, 20004 – on Pennsylvania Avenue NW between 13th and 14th Streets NW
— Contact: Jeffrey Imm, info@realcourage.org, 301-613-8789

The Freedom Plaza in Washington DC is named in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., who worked on his “I Have a Dream” speech in the nearby Willard Hotel. In 1988, a time capsule containing a Bible, a robe, and other relics of King’s was planted at the site.

Directions:

— Map Showing Location of Freedom Plaza in Washington DC

— Street Level Photographic View of Freedom Plaza Area

— Washington DC Metro Subway Stop: Metro Center (Central Station – for Red, Blue, Orange Lines)
— Washington DC Metro Subway Planner Tool

Walking Directions for Metro Center Subway:
— Metro Center Metro Station to Pennsylvania Ave NW & 14th St NW:
1. Exit station through 13TH ST NW & G ST NW entrance.
2. Walk approx. 1 block S on 13th St NW.
3. Turn right on Pennsylvania Ave NW.
4. Walk approx. 1 block W on Pennsylvania Ave NW.

— Parking lots: the nearby National Theater reports the following parking lot areas include:
— PMI
— 1220 E Street, NW – Enter on E Street between 12th and 13th Streets
— 424 11th Street, NW
— 1325 G Street, NW – Enter on G Street between 13th and 14th Streets
— QUICK PARK
— 1301 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW – Enter on 13th Street between E and F Streets

— Freedom Plaza is an open air plaza which is in front of The National Theater, whose address is 1321 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004. Directions to Freedom Plaza are essentially not much different than going to the front of the National Theater (National Theater driving directions, street map of area, parking directions, Metro directions).