The Bible, Israel, and Antisemitism: Part 15: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
The piece of conspiracy propaganda that has carried perhaps the most weight throughout the 20th century is a booklet entitled The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
First appearing in Russia in 1903, the origin of The Protocols is still something of a mystery, though it is widely believed to be the work of Tsar Nicholas’ secret police. Tsar Nicholas’ authority (and European autocratic power in general) was in decline, challenged by the rise of democratic forms of government. Exploiting the longstanding prejudices against the Jews, The Protocols claims that these challenges—liberalism, constitutionalism, socialism, and communism—are the outworking of a secret plan by elite Jewish masterminds to overthrow traditional authorities, namely the churches and the monarchies. The book strongly implies that the Jews will seize global power under the headship of an almost antichrist-like Jewish leader.
The Protocols draws heavily on the Rothschild myth, alleging that a small group of powerful Jews secretly manipulates governments through the control of banking and public finance.
In the years surrounding WWI and the Russian revolution, monarchies were collapsing and more democratic forms of government were emerging across Europe. The Protocols appeared to explain this upheaval as the work of a secret Jewish conspiracy. Refugees fleeing the revolutionary violence in Russia distributed The Protocols in Europe where it was translated into French, German, English, Polish, and other languages, reinforcing an already virulent European antisemitism.
The propaganda soon reached the United States. In the 1920s Henry Ford’s newspaper, the Dearborn Independent, published a series of articles based on The Protocols, lending his prestige to the antisemitic hoax. Ford later republished the articles as a book, The International Jew. Although he eventually apologized under pressure, the damage was done, and the conspiracy spread through America.
Despite The Times of London exposing The Protocols as a forgery in 1921, Adolf Hitler continued to treat it as genuine, citing it in Mein Kampf. Nazi Germany distributed millions of copies of The Protocols throughout its occupied territories and required its reading in schools to foment hatred of the Jews and prepare public opinion for “the Final Solution”.
The Protocols was also translated into Arabic in the 1920s and 1930s and adopted by some Arab nationalist and radical Islamist movements. Even today, it is presented as historical fact in some radical Islamist educational and media materials.
Although few now reference the Rothschilds or cite The Protocols directly, the ideas behind both conspiracies have become part of the antisemitic worldview. Claims that Jews secretly control banks, finances, the Federal Reserve, the United Nations, the media, or national governments echo these myths. Such rhetoric remains common among radical Islamists and their supporters, as well as in the rhetoric of radical online figures like Nick Fuentes and Stew Peters.
I cannot sound the alarm loudly enough about the danger of this antisemitic hatred, and I am greatly concerned when I hear conservatives and evangelical Christians embracing such ideas.
First appearing in Russia in 1903, the origin of The Protocols is still something of a mystery, though it is widely believed to be the work of Tsar Nicholas’ secret police. Tsar Nicholas’ authority (and European autocratic power in general) was in decline, challenged by the rise of democratic forms of government. Exploiting the longstanding prejudices against the Jews, The Protocols claims that these challenges—liberalism, constitutionalism, socialism, and communism—are the outworking of a secret plan by elite Jewish masterminds to overthrow traditional authorities, namely the churches and the monarchies. The book strongly implies that the Jews will seize global power under the headship of an almost antichrist-like Jewish leader.
The Protocols draws heavily on the Rothschild myth, alleging that a small group of powerful Jews secretly manipulates governments through the control of banking and public finance.
In the years surrounding WWI and the Russian revolution, monarchies were collapsing and more democratic forms of government were emerging across Europe. The Protocols appeared to explain this upheaval as the work of a secret Jewish conspiracy. Refugees fleeing the revolutionary violence in Russia distributed The Protocols in Europe where it was translated into French, German, English, Polish, and other languages, reinforcing an already virulent European antisemitism.
The propaganda soon reached the United States. In the 1920s Henry Ford’s newspaper, the Dearborn Independent, published a series of articles based on The Protocols, lending his prestige to the antisemitic hoax. Ford later republished the articles as a book, The International Jew. Although he eventually apologized under pressure, the damage was done, and the conspiracy spread through America.
Despite The Times of London exposing The Protocols as a forgery in 1921, Adolf Hitler continued to treat it as genuine, citing it in Mein Kampf. Nazi Germany distributed millions of copies of The Protocols throughout its occupied territories and required its reading in schools to foment hatred of the Jews and prepare public opinion for “the Final Solution”.
The Protocols was also translated into Arabic in the 1920s and 1930s and adopted by some Arab nationalist and radical Islamist movements. Even today, it is presented as historical fact in some radical Islamist educational and media materials.
Although few now reference the Rothschilds or cite The Protocols directly, the ideas behind both conspiracies have become part of the antisemitic worldview. Claims that Jews secretly control banks, finances, the Federal Reserve, the United Nations, the media, or national governments echo these myths. Such rhetoric remains common among radical Islamists and their supporters, as well as in the rhetoric of radical online figures like Nick Fuentes and Stew Peters.
I cannot sound the alarm loudly enough about the danger of this antisemitic hatred, and I am greatly concerned when I hear conservatives and evangelical Christians embracing such ideas.