The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith said it has discovered that the version of an old anti-Semitic document recently circulated on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley by a Moslem student group was originally produced and distributed by the late and infamous Gerald L. K. Smith. The ADL’s Central Pacific Regional director Rhonda Abrams, who disclosed this, said the document, distributed on Cal’s Sproul Plaza by the Moslem Students Association – Persian Speaking Group, was a flyer containing excerpts from the well-known anti-semitic forgery, “The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.”
The “Protocols” were composed by Czarist police at the turn of the century to justify pogroms against Jews. Smith published this collection of excerpts from the “Protocols” in the December 1968 issue of his notorious publication, “The Cross and the Flag.”
“It is no accident that a Jew-hating group like the Moslem Students Association — Persian Speaking Group should be passing out literature originally composed by the notorious Gerald L. K. Smith and distributed today through the mailing houses of very rightwing extremist group in the country,” Ms. Abrams said. “The MSA was handing out this obscenely anti-Semitic flyer as part of its campaign against Zionism and the state of Israel.”
CHANCELLOR URGED TO ACT
When the “Protocols” first reached California, the ADL sent a letter to University Chancellor Ira Michael Heyman requesting a meeting and asking him to denounce the appearance of bigoted and anti-Semitic material on campus.
“We’re not asking for censorship,” said Ms. Abrams, “nor is this a question of free speech. We asked the Chancellor to say that while there is a place on campus for legitimate and open debate of important issues, such as the Middle East, the introduction of racist and bigoted material goes beyond all acceptable limits and is thoroughly disgusting and un-American.”
In response to the ADL request and a similar one from the campus’ B’nai B’rith Hillel Foundation, representatives of the two organizations met with university officials. Heyman did not attend. At the meeting, which took place on April 29, ADL regional assistant director Robert Smith reiterated his agency’s call for the Chancellor to condemn the appearance of the documents on campus. “I’m very disappointed that the Chancellor has chosen not to speak out on this matter,” he said.
NEW ANTI-SEMITIC TRACT APPEARS
A new anti-Semitic tract appeared on the MSA table this week. Entitled “The Racist Nature of Zionism,” the work purports to describe Jewish religious laws relating to Gentiles. “This scurrillous piece, like the ‘Protocols,’ has nothing to do with Israel,” said Ms. Abrams.
“It is only a collection of distortions of Judaism in the worst tradition of the ‘Protocols.’ It is of the same family, and is distributed today by groups like the Klan and Nazis. It is obscene, and it is all the more reason for the Chancellor to speak out.” Ms Abrams said that the ADL is investigating the origin of the tract.
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.
