Australian paper apologizes for article that used `Protocols’

SYDNEY, July 7 (JTA) — Australia’s largest mainstream Arabic- language newspaper has published two front-page articles criticizing its publication that quoted a well-known anti-Semitic tract. The articles resulted from mediation conducted by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission after the Executive Council of Australian Jewry lodged a complaint following the publication of the offending story. The original article, which was published last year, was written by the publisher and editor in chief of the Lebanese-based publication Al- Diar, quoted the 19th-century Russian forgery “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” It alleged that there is a “covenant” of the “Old Testament” to the effect that “the Lebanese fields must be burnt”; claimed Jews are “snakes”; and maintained that the Jewish people plan that “all the people will submit to the Jews” for the aim of achieving their “Global Order.” One of the two articles published recently, headed “The Protocols — We Were Wrong,” explained why anti-Semitism is unacceptable. In the other piece, senior Jewish communal leaders focused on the need for members of the Jewish and Arab communities to work together. Diane Shteinman, a leader of the Australian Jewish community, said in an interview that El Telegraph is a well-regarded newspaper and that the publication of the article was out of character.