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In Rambling, Spiteful Speech, Farrakhan Denies Anti-Semitism

Farrakhan at Maryam November 2018

November 20, 2018

On Sunday, November 18th, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan spoke at Mosque Maryam, the NOI headquarters in Chicago, continuing his long history of anti-Semitic commentary.

In a rambling, often nonsensical speech, Farrakhan  recalled his recent visit to Iran and addressed his comment in which he referred to himself as being not anti-Semitic, but “anti-termite."

“So when they interpreted my words, it caused many of my people to stumble. Why would he say something like that. Hell, if I did say it…what do you have to say about it? How’s the foundation of your house? What is eating at the foundation of your moral discipline? Some termite is eating at you. But I didn’t say it. See, I don’t have to say things to please you in your ignorance. If I said it, you should have said: ‘damn right.’”

Farrakhan also dismissed the idea that Israel is the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people, saying that Ashkenazi Jews (Jews that settled in Europe as a result of the diaspora) have “no real connection at all to the Holy Land. None! So in a showdown prove to us that you are Semitic…The native Palestinians are Semitic people, been in Palestine for thousands of years. But this, that crept out of Europe stealing the birthright of the Semitic Jews, the Semitic Arabs he’s against the Palestinians they’re Semitic people. Well, where’s the real anti-Semite?”

Additional excerpts from Farrakhan’s hours-long speech:

  • “When I was in Palestine I saw a black man riding on a donkey. I couldn’t speak Arabic, but my guide who was one of the Hebrew Israelites, could speak both Arabic and Hebrew. So I said, ask him, how long has he been here. So they asked this black brother. He said, they go back as far as he can remember, I mean we’ve always been here.”
  • “I’m calling for my enemies, I’d like to get Don King to promote it, a showdown at Madison Square Garden, a showdown. Why not? We ready to die for what we believe. So come on out, Mr. Greenblatt of the ADL. And bring Mr. Foxman [former ADL National Director Abe Foxman] with you. Come on out, Alan Dershowitz. Come on out, you that say we are haters and anti-Semites, come on out from your hiding place leave your n******s at home. Come on out.”
  • “They [Jews] don’t need protection from us, we would never harm them. And they talk about 67% increase in anti-Semitism. And you can’t find one that is a follower of the Elijah Muhammad under my leadership that has done anything to Jewish people. So how can we be the haters?”