Some 60 people in Toronto have protested a speech by a British author known for his belief in conspiracy theories featuring extraterrestrial reptiles and for his anti-Semitism.
David Icke, a former BBC sports announcer and one-time member of the British Green Party, substituted words such as “freemasons” and “reptilian race” in place of “Jew” when he spoke Oct. 6 at the University of Toronto, according to Danny Fine, director of community relations of the Ontario region of the Canadian Jewish Congress.
In addition to rallying against Icke’s scheduled appearance, congress officials have also asked the federal government to review its policy on admitting known hate-mongers into the country to attend speaking engagements.
Congress officials asked the Hate Crimes Unit of the Toronto Police to monitor the speech. Icke apparently knew that two members from the unit attended his talk.
“He was very careful,” Fine said. “He read verbatim from his book, but would find another noun in place of the word `Jew’ so as not to be proven anti- Semitic.”
Icke sees worldwide conspiracies plotted by freemasons, the Rothschilds, the British royal family as well as the “reptiles.”
Those familiar with Icke’s book, “The Biggest Secret,” said much of his talk came directly from its roughly 500 pages.
One passage in the book asserts that the Torah was written “by a bunch of human-sacrificing, blood-drinking fanatics and black magicians who you would not trust to tell you the time.”
Initially organized by the Ontario Green Party, which wanted to protest Icke’s appearance because of his past association with the Greens, the demonstration was also supported by the CJC and B’nai Brith Canada.
Fine also expressed concern that allowing Icke to appear “under the tried veil of freedom of speech” opens the doors for other hate-mongerers to give public talks in Canada.
About 250 people attended the talk.
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.
