Press Release

Louis Farrakhan's Annual Address to Followers 'Dripping with Anti-Semitism and Hatred'

New York, NY, February 28, 2012 … Minister Louis Farrakhan, the anti-Semitic and racist leader of the Nation of Islam, delivered yet another anti-Semitic diatribe to followers in Chicago this past weekend, turning his annual Saviours' Day address into what the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) characterized as "a textbook example" of the continuing potency in some circles of anti-Semitism in America.

Minister Farrakhan's address to the Saviours' Day convention in Chicago included accusations of Jewish control over government, media, finance and entertainment, and repeated many of the past anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that have made Farrakhan one of the nation's foremost promoters of anti-Semitism to a legion of followers.

"Farrakhan's annual address to the Nation of Islam was dripping with anti-Semitism and hatred and should stand as a textbook example of the continuing potency in some circles of anti-Semitism in America," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "Rather than laugh him off the stage, tens of thousands of supporters cheered him on and encouraged his anti-Semitism and bigotry. Not since Father Coughlin have we seen a religious figure so obsessed with anti-Semitism. In the past few years Farrakhan has turned his message and the mission of the Nation of Islam into a wide-ranging campaign to demonize and scapegoat Jews."

Aside from Farrakhan's speech, the convention included a plenary session that sought to demonstrate disproportionate Jewish involvement in the slave trade. The session, titled "Business is Warfare: The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews," borrowed its name from a set of Nation of Islam books alleging that Jewish exploitation of Blacks during the slave trade has caused deep and prolonged repercussions for African-Americans.

The following are selected examples of anti-Semitic statements made by Farrakhan during his four-and-½ hour speech during the 2012 Saviours' Day conference at the United Center Arena in Chicago on February 26:

On "Jewish Control" of the U.S. Government & President Obama

• "The government of America is owned lock stock and barrel by those Zionists that love Israel above the United States of America."
• "The government of the United States has made an agreement with hell and a covenant with death. You have locked onto the Zionist control of your government, your media, and you're afraid to stand up because if you do they'll tell you, you won't be re-elected."
• "Listen good now, no matter what President Obama has said or done to show Israel his commitment, somehow or another he is failing on some aspect of what they desire him to do. He has invaded into every country the neocons have told him to. He went and got the stimulus plan to bail out Wall Street. There is nothing that he has not done for Israel but they are still not happy."

On "Zionists" and Iran

• "I advise white and black America, Hispanic and Asian America, why would you send your children to die in a war engineered by Zionists who love Israel more than they love the United States of America?"
• "Don't send these children to war for the sake of Israel."

On Jews in the Entertainment Industry

• "Do you know Jewish people were not the origin of Hollywood, but they took it over?"
• "In 100 years, they control movies, television, recording, publishing, commerce, radio, they own it all. Magazines. Why do you [Jews] want it all, everything?"

On Zionists and Islam

• "Some of these Zionists are trying to rewrite the Koran. You didn't hear me! And they got some Muslims going along with it!"
• "Did you know that the Koran says that Jews are the most violent of people? I didn't write it, but I'm living to see it."

On Sudan

• "Did you know that Israel provoked the war in the Sudan? For 20 years or more, the Sudan was in the civil war and it started because Israel wanted to create a war in southern and northern Sudan to divert Egypt to come to the defense of the Sudan to take pressure away from Egypt attacking Israel."

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.