Anti-semitism: Myth and Hate from Antiquity to the Present

116 ANTISEMITISM
They have falsified knowledge, exploited the pens of writers and bought minds
in their quest for the ruination of humanity. Thus they proceed from this to
seizing power ... domination, mastery, and gaining full control.” 72
In the aftermath of the Al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on the United States on
September 11, 2001, the Palestinian Authority newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda
proclaimed that “the Muslim-Jewish conflict resembles the conflict between
man and Satan, [that] this is the fate of the Muslim nation, and beyond that [it
is] the fate of all the nations of the world, to be tormented by [the Jews].” 73 In
calling for holy war against Israel, the covenant of Hamas, drawn up in 1998,
also employs the language of the Protocols:
Our enemies have planned from time immemorial in order to reach the position
they’ve obtained now. They strive to collect enormous material riches to
be used in the realization of their dream. With money, they’ve gained control
of the international media beginning with news agencies, newspapers and
publishing houses, broadcasting stations. ... [W]ith their money, they have
detonated revolutions in different parts of the world to obtain their interests
and reap their fruits. They were behind the French Revolution and the Communist
Revolution and were also responsible for most of the revolutions
we’ve heard about elsewhere. With their money, they have created secret
organizations which spread throughout the world in order to destroy societies,
and to achieve the Zionist interest such as the Free Masons, the Rotary
and the Lions Club. All these are destructive espionage organizations. With
their money, they’ve been able to take control over the imperialist countries
and push them to occupy many states in order to suck the riches of these
countries and spread corruption there. The same goes for international and
local wars. They were behind World War I. ... [T]hey established the
League of Nations in order to rule the world. They were also behind World
War II where they made enormous profits from speculation in war
material. ... [They promoted] the establishment of the United Nations and
Security Council ... in order to rule the world through them. ... After
Palestine, they ... will still aspire to further expansion. Their plan is the Protocols
of the Elders of Zion. 74
In April 1998 El-Telegraph, Australia’s leading Arabic newspaper, quoted
the Protocols to substantiate the view that Jews seek world domination. It was
forced to make a public apology for what it called “an innocent mistake.” Also
in 1998, in a bizarre but classic illustration of the conspiracy myth, Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohammad of Malaysia blamed the precipitous decline in
the value of the country’s currency on a Jewish “agenda.” “We are Muslims,”
he told the audience, “and the Jews are not happy to see the Muslims progress.