Federal and state agencies investigated today the setting up of a recorded telephone message urging callers to read the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the repeatedly exposed anti-Semitic hoax.
Stanley S. Jacobs, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said that the recorded message was arranged by Fred Huntley of Berkeley, Calif. He said that he had received a letter from Huntley a year ago in which Huntley wrote that “maybe Eichmann had the right idea.”
The stunt came to light when advertisements began appearing in Bay area newspapers, urging readers to dial a Berkeley number to receive a “patriotic message. ” Those who did so heard a recording attacking Communism and the ADL and urging callers to read the viciously anti-Semitic Protocols. Sponsors called themselves “Let Freedom Ring.”
After the ADL and the San Francisco Jewish Community Relations Council began investigating the scheme, the sponsors changed their tactics and disavowed anti-Semitism as their purpose. The recording remained unchanged, however, in urging reading of the Protocols.
The Federal Communications Commission, the California State Utilities Commission, and the telephone company also entered the probe. Spokesmen for the telephone company said, however, that they had no legal power to interfere with the recorded announcement.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
