41845358-Antisemitism

THE DIABOLIZATION OF JEWS
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The Jews robbed the Palestinians of everything, but in Malaysia they could
not do so, hence they do this, depress the ringitt.”* 75
Japan is another place that abounds in Jewish conspiracy theories and antisemitic
publications based on the Protocols. Bookstores prominently display
such titles as The Jewish Plot to Control the World (written by a Shinto priest);
The Expert Way of Reading the Jewish Protocols (written by a university professor);
and The Secret of Jewish Power (written by a senior member of parliament).
Japanese newspapers routinely print antisemitic ads. For example, on July 27,
1993, a leading business paper printed an ad for a three-volume work entitled
Get Japan, The Last Enemy: The Jewish Protocols for World Domination. The ad
contained stars of David and an image of Satan and claimed that “Jewish cartels
surrounding the Rothschilds control Europe, America, and Russia and
have now set out to conquer Japan.” 76
The most popular Japanese writer of antisemitic diatribes is Uno Masami, a
Christian fundamentalist preacher with ties to the Liberty Lobby, probably the
most active antisemitic organization in the United States. (See page 182.) In 1986
he published If You Understand the Jews, You Will Understand the World and If You
Understand the Jews You Will Understand Japan, which became sensational bestsellers—a
combined total of more than a million copies sold in just six months.
Interpreting contemporary events according to the guidelines found in the Protocols,
Uno claimed that the Jews rule the United States; control IBM, Ford, Standard
Oil, AT&T, and other leading corporations; fabricated the Holocaust;
manipulate the world economy; and were plotting to destroy Japan. He became a
frequent guest on television and responsible circles cited him as an authority.
That antisemitic literature flourishes in a country that has had the most
limited historical experience with Jews** and where the Jewish population,
both foreign residents and converts, is minuscule—2,000 out of a population
of some 125 million—demonstrates the strength and protean character of an
antique Christian demonological myth, and its extraordinary capacity to survive
and adapt itself to different times, places, and cultures.
* Some Arab commentators do examine Jewish history with a more critical historical
eye. In an extraordinary three-part article published in al-Hayat (November 12–14,
1997), a Lebanese newspaper, Abu Fakhr criticized Arabs for embracing classical European
antisemitic myths. He systematically refuted the myth that Jews practice ritual
murder, showed that the Protocols was a forgery, and rejected the legend that Jews were
conspirators with hidden powers.
** It should be noted that during World War II, despite its alliance with Nazi Germany,
Japan offered havens to European Jews—approximately sixty thousand found refuge in
domains it ruled, including almost twenty thousand in Shanghai. The two thousand
Jews living in Japan today, most of them in Tokyo, have been consistently well treated.