Farrakhan's Saviours' Day
Speech Marked by Anti-Semitism
Posted: March 27, 2009
Louis Farrakhan's keynote address at the Nation of Islam's
(NOI) 2009 Saviours' Day convention, which took place on March
1 in Rosemont, Illinois, featured expressions of anti-Semitism
that have largely been absent from his speeches in recent
years.
Approximately 14,000 gathered at the Donald E. Stephens
Convention Center to listen to Farrakhan's address, in which he
demonized Israel and charged that the pro-Israel lobby
disproportionately controls the U.S. government. (The Rosemont
Theatre, where the speech took place, seated 4,400 of the
attendees. The rest watched on television screens from
elsewhere on the premises.)
At one point during his address, which lasted more than
three hours, Farrakhan implied that the validity of Holocaust
records should be open to debate:
… you can't even engage in constructive
argument over the veracity of the figures of the Holocaust.
We know something happened, sure, but you can't talk about
it. In certain cities in Europe they arrest you and put you
in prison for denying such.
During his discussion of Israel's military action in Gaza to
staunch the barrage of Hamas rockets fired at Israeli towns and
cities, Farrakhan portrayed Israelis as, "Liars, thieves,
murderers" who have "taken the position of God" and are out to
"kill everybody."
When the people of Gaza were being slaughtered,
the pro-Israeli lobby sent messages to the House and the
Senate of words that they wanted them to use, gave them the
language, and now you have bipartisan support. And there's
not a vote that the pro-Israeli lobby wants that doesn't get
bipartisan support. Why? Because the Israeli lobby controls
the government of the United States of America.
U.S. elections, he said, are subject to the same
influence:
You cannot deny the pro-Israeli lobby and get
reelected. Ask Cynthia McKinney. Ask David Hilliard. Ask our
mayor in Oakland, California. Ask Percy, the former Senator.
Ask Jimmy Carter. You can't criticize, you can't say nothin'
because if you do, you're branded as an anti-Semite.
Farrakhan added that once elected, members of Congress cater
to the needs of the pro-Israel lobby that controls their
seat:
Why, U.S. Congress, will you not speak? It is
because you fear a lobby that has money and influence that
will turn you out of your seat? So you're terrorized. That's
why you don't act for the American people that sent you to
Congress. You are not their representative. You are the
representative of the money and interests that have bought
your soul.
Farrakhan also accused a "corporate-controlled" U.S. media
of preventing Americans from learning what he described as the
truth about Israeli actions in Gaza:
They drop phosphorous bombs. They drop depleted
uranium, dirty bombs. They used new weapons that have never
been used in a theater of war before, they tried them out on
the Palestinians. They killed men, women, children. Nobody's
saying anything. It is as though it's wrong to say, 'Israel,
you're wrong.'
Farrakhan called on the American Jewish community and the
U.S. government to condemn Israel's actions. Until that
happens, he claimed, Muslims should not be expected to speak
out against suicide bombers who target Israel:
You expect Muslims to stand against suicide
bombers. You expect us to say, 'wait a minute, you do not
kill innocent people for political purposes.' You want us to
say that and if we don't say it you rise up against us. But
we don't hear you correcting your brothers because what
they're doing is creating hatred for Israel and hatred for
America that looks the other way while the Palestinians are
being slaughtered.
At one point Farrakhan singled out Malik Zulu Shabazz, the
anti-Semitic and racist leader of the New Black Panther Party
(NBPP), as a "profound teacher" and example of individuals who
can help in community-building among African Americans. Shabazz
was seated on stage.
Leonard Jeffries, the former head of the Black Studies
Department at the City College of CUNY, who has espoused racist
and anti-Semitic views and theories since at least the early
1980s, was also seated on stage and named by Farrakhan.
Farrakhan also refuted accusations of anti-Semitism, denying
that he hates anyone based on religious beliefs and also
denying that he teaches others to do so. He added, "I hate
anti-Semitism... Please don't call me an anti-Semite, but you
can if you want to. If it makes you happy."
[...]
