Casting About for Anti-Semitic Quotations

by Lou Copeland

Judehass makes liberal use of quotes from various persons on the subject of Anti-semitism. One of the challenges of the project was finding quotes that had impact, represented a broad range historically, and were drawn from a wide cast of social stratum. Internet searches revealed another hurdle, there's a great deal of persons and organizations who either misrepresented or falsified evidence that certain historical figures were Jew haters.

One of the first substantial leads for our quotes came from one of these sites, a radical Muslim faction known as Radio Islam (see below for links). One of the apparent goals of this organization is to legitimize their hatred of Jews by demonstrating that key historical figures were on to the "truth." A common indiscretion practiced by the compilers of the quotes was to take sentences scattered throughout a given document out of context and compile them into a single concise paragraph. Even worse, often legitimate citations referencing an unspecified group were extracted from obscure legitimate texts and doctored with fabricated references to Jews. A great deal of the quotes were wholly fabricated.

Of particular interest among these hate groups was attributing anti-semitic sentiments to the US founding fathers. Here's a few examples:

George Washington

"They (the Jews) work more effectively against us, than the enemy's armies. They are a hundred times more dangerous to our liberties and the great cause we are engaged in... It is much to be lamented that each state, long ago, has not hunted them down as pest to society and the greatest enemies we have to the happiness of America."

Benjamin Franklin

"I fully agree with General Washington, that we must protect this young nation from an insidious influence and impenetration. The menace, gentlemen, is the Jews.

We found no solid evidence that these quotes have the slightest shred of authenticity, or that the general sentiments attributed to these men against Jews were ever held by these persons. In fact, a number of the figures "quoted" on the Radio Islam site are held in high esteem by Jewish organizations for their positive stance on Jews during times when the tide of popular opinion went otherwise.

On the other hand, many of the quotes from these sites are in fact all too real and several were used in the final project. Dave and I have made every effort to verify the authenticity of the quotes used throughout the text of Judenhass. If anyone has any evidence that would indicate an error has been made we would be very pleased to hear from you.

Martin Luther by D.S.

Several of the texts quoted from throughout Judenhass are available in their entirety on the web. Particularly startling are the extensive anti-Jewish screeds written by otherwise admirable public figures that I've linked to here:

Martin Luther - On the Jews and their Lies

Mark Twain - Concerning The Jews

Henry Ford - The International Jew

ADDITIONAL LINKS:

The above mentioned webpage, What world famous men said about the Jews from the staggeringly extensive Radio Islam site.

David S. Maddison's excellent webpage containing refutation of many of the above "quotes" frequently sourced by anti-Jewish groups.