Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), ripped into leaders of the Women’s March for attending a Louis Farrakhan speech the prior weekend.
Greenblatt prefaced his Medium post by noting that Farrakhan’s speech during last weekend’s Nation of Islam convention was laced with anti-Semitism, which included statements about how “Jews are part of ‘the Synagogue of Satan;’ that the white people running Mexico are Mexican-Jews; that Jews control various countries including Ukraine, France, Poland and Germany where they take advantage of the money, the culture and the business; that Jesus called Jews ‘the children of the devil’; and ‘when you want something in this world, the Jew holds the door.’” Farrakhan also promoted the anti-Semitic slander “that Jews control the government and the FBI and use marijuana to feminize black men.”
“The NOI uses its programs, institutions, publications, and social media to disseminate its message of hate,” Greenblatt wrote. “At last weekend’s convention they were heavily promoting, ‘The Secret History Between Blacks and Jews,’ a multivolume tract that blames Jews for orchestrating the transatlantic slave trade. It deserves a place on the shelf of every bigot alongside ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,’ another work of libelous fiction used to foment little more than intolerance.”
Greenblatt also pointed to Farrakhan’s bigoted statements toward whites and gays and then noted that too many public figures “have a blind spot” and specifically called out a couple of leaders of the Women’s March.
“Consider that in the audience at last weekend’s conference was Tamika Mallory, one of the leaders of the Women’s March, who got a special shout-out from Farrakhan and who regularly posts laudatory pictures of him on her Instagram account — as does Carmen Perez, another leader of the March,” Greenblatt wrote. “Linda Sarsour, another March organizer, spoke and participated at a Nation of Islam event in 2015. Her most notable response to his incendiary remarks this year was a glowing post on Perez’s Facebook page to praise Farrakhan’s youthful demeanor.”
Perez simply dismissed Farrakhan’s bigotry by stating that no one’s “perfect,” according to Greenblatt. Mallory touted a tweet from rapper called Mysonne to show that she isn’t anti-Semitic, although the Washington Free Beacon noted that Mysonne once tweeted that Jews were responsible for the oppression of blacks.
Zioness Movement President Amanda Berman called on the Women’s March leaders to condemn Farrakhan.
“It is hypocritical beyond words that they continue to align themselves with Louis Farrakhan, who is an unapologetic bigot that spews hate targeting the Jewish community, LGBTQ community and others,” Berman said in a statement. “There is no ambiguity on this issue. Either the Women’s March leaders endorse the vilification of the Jewish people or they don’t. It’s that simple.”
Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) was also mentioned in Greenblatt’s post for recently praising Farrakhan, and when pressed on it Davis attempted to walk it back but has yet to publicly condemn Farrakhan.
CNN’s Jake Tapper launched a tweetstorm on Feb. 28 about Farrakhan’s speech:
On Sunday, Rev. Farrakhan gave his Saviours' Day 2018 Address, attended by thousands including one of the co-founders of the Women's March.https://t.co/WE5ys7It8R
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 28, 2018
Shortly after 1:10:50 in the video Farrakhan proclaims that "the powerful Jews are my enemy.” https://t.co/WE5ys7It8R
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 28, 2018
At 2:57:00 he begins approvingly quoting some of the anti-Semitic comments made by Rev. Billy Graham and President Richard Nixon in the Oval Office.https://t.co/WE5ys7It8R
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 28, 2018
At 2:59:00 Farrakhan approvingly cites Nixon and Graham attacking Jews' "grip on the media" and Hollywood and "how the Jews were responsible for all of this filth and degenerate behavior that Hollywood is putting out turning men into women and women into men.”
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 28, 2018
At 3:15, Farrakhan calls Jews 'the mother and father of apartheid, the Jews."https://t.co/WE5ys7It8R
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 28, 2018
Assailing Keith Ellison, at 3:21 Farrakhan says, "let me tell you something, when you want something in this world, the Jew holds the door."
https://t.co/WE5ys7It8R— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 28, 2018
at 3;49: “White folks are going down. And Satan is going down. And Farrakhan …has pulled the cover off the eyes of that Satanic Jew and I’m here to say your time is up, your world is through." https://t.co/WE5ys7It8R
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 28, 2018
This is who Farrakhan is. It's why folks are legitimately so offended when they found out that then-Sen. Obama and members of the CBC met with him in 2005. https://t.co/QdGpWuGdZ6
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 28, 2018
The @ADL_National has lots more on comments Farrakhan has made over the years. https://t.co/Z0QxInjwMB
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 28, 2018
The difference between Farrakhan and some members of the alt-reich whose heinous bigotry has received a lot of attention this past year: Farrakhan has a much larger following and elected officials meet with him openly.
-fin-— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 28, 2018
The ADL has also recently criticized three Democrats, including Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), the deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), for attending a 2013 dinner hosted by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Farrakhan was also an attendee at the dinner.
In addition to his bigoted statements, Farrakhan’s record includes lavishing praise on the Iranian regime and deposed dictators Saddam Hussein and Moammar Gaddafi. Farrakhan also established a partnership between the NOI and the Church of Scientology and believes that an unidentified flying object (UFO) known as the “Mother Wheel” that “will rain destruction upon white America, but save those who embrace the Nation of Islam.”
