Special Information Bulletin
Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S)
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/sib/2_05/prot.htm for illustrationsJanuary 2005

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion still a hit on the Egyptian book market:
Two new versions of The Protocols, published in Egypt in 2003, are offered
for sale in Cairo's bookstores and, in our assessment, are marketed
throughout the Arab and Muslim world

www.intelligence.org.il/eng/sib/2_05/prot.htm for illustrations

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and their Biblical and Talmudic Origins

General characteristics

Among all the Arab states, it is Egypt that stands out in the massive extent
of anti-Semitic publications that appear in the media, whether printed or
electronic, governmental or oppositionist. The phenomenon prevails in
blatant violation of the peace treaty, according to which Egypt has to
prevent this kind of incitement.

The volume of anti-Semitic publications has been steadily on the rise since
the outbreak of the violent confrontation between Israel and the
Palestinians (September 2000), with venomous attacks against Israel and its
leaders sometimes being accompanied by unmistakable anti-Semitic overtones
targeted against the Jewish people rather than the state of Israel alone.

Prominent among the anti-Semitic publications targeted against the Jewish
people is The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Since 1951, Egypt has seen
several editions of The Protocols (at times accompanied by "scientific"
commentaries) that have gained enormous popularity with the Egyptian public
and with reader audiences all across the Arab and Muslim world.

Two new versions of The Protocols, published in 2003, are currently
available in Cairo's bookstores1: One is a new original adaptation of The
Protocols; the other is the tenth edition of a popular version that was
first published in 1976. Descriptions of the two books follow:

[1]. The two books discussed in the present document were purchased at
respectable bookstores in Cairo in September 2004.

A new original adaptation of The Protocols titled The Protocols of the
Elders of Zion and their Biblical and Talmudic Origins. This first edition
was co-written by Dr. Ahmad Hijazi al-Saqa (professor of Comparative
Religion at Al-Azhar University) and Hisham Khadr (a journalist for the
Qatari periodical Al-Sharq). The foreword for the book was written by Ali
Jum'ah (Mufti of Egypt and professor of the Principles of Islamic
Jurisprudence at Al-Azhar University). The writers' academic credentials and
their affiliation with Al-Azhar University, as well as the foreword by the
Mufti, lend this version of The Protocols an air of religious and academic
credibility (Appendix A).

The Jewish Menace, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion : the tenth edition
of this version of The Protocols was published in 2003, the first edition
having been published in 1976 (translation by Muhammad Khalifa al-Tunisi;
foreword by Professor Abbas Mahmoud al-Aqqad). This is a popular version of
The Protocols, widely spread in Egypt and marketed throughout the Arab and
Muslim world (copies of the book were found and cited in the Palestinian
Authority administered territories) (Appendix B).

These two visually appealing editions were published a year after the
publication of the July 2002 edition of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
by the large and esteemed publishing house of the government weekly Akhbar
el-Yom. The multitude of new editions of The Protocols published in Egypt as
well as their ever-increasing technical quality might be an indication of
growing demand for this blatantly anti-Semitic product and, possibly, of the
existence of parties responsible for the funding of the new editions and for
their technical improvement.

It should be stressed that the anti-Semitic publications massively published
in Egypt, including The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, are exported from
Egypt all across the Arab and Muslim world, gaining much attention outside
of Egypt as well. In this fashion, these publications, originating in Egypt,
fan anti-Semitism and hatred against the Jewish people in Middle Eastern
countries as well as in Muslim communities worldwide. In the case at hand,
the author is a professor from Al-Azhar University, a respectable and
reputable institution exerting far-reaching influence over matters of
Islamic law all across the Muslim-Sunni world. Furthermore, the writer of
the foreword is, as already stated, the Mufti of Egypt and a professor at
Al-Azhar University. All this contributes to a more efficient assimilation
of The Protocols' messages of hatred.

The Egyptian government is capable of exercising strict censorship over
allegedly academic publications by lecturers from Al-Azhar University,
supported by the establishment (it goes to great lengths, for example, to
censor publications perceived as offensive to Islamic religion). In
practice, however, the Egyptian government continues to allow the
publication and spread of anti-Semitic publications, including The Protocols
of the Elders of Zion.

Even recently, an article titled "Plain Israeli extortion" that was
published in the Egyptian periodical Al-Ahram al-Masaai (January 25, 2005),
affiliated with the Egyptian establishment and known for its extremist
anti-Israeli views, lashed out at the UN special session marking 60 years
since the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp (see Appendix C).

Appendix A (1)

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and their Biblical and Talmudic Origins
A new original adaptation of The Protocols

Translation of the book's back cover

Thus speaks the Torah2: "When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against
it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it make thee answer of
peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is
found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. And
if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then
thou shalt besiege it: And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into
thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:
But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the
city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou
shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given
thee. Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from
thee, which are not of the cities of these nations. But of the cities of
these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou
shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: But thou shalt utterly destroy
them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the
Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath
commanded thee: That they teach you not to do after all their abominations,
which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your
God" (Deut. 20, 10-18). [Based] on these teachings, the rabbis wrote The
Protocols of the Elders of Zion in order to destroy the world. And indeed,
the following was delivered by Allah, may he be exalted, as stated [in the
Quran]: "Among the followers of the Book there are some such that if you
entrust one [of them] with a heap of wealth, he shall pay it back to you;
and among them there are some such that if you entrust one [of them] with a
dinar he shall not pay it back to you except so long as you remain firm in
demanding it; this is because they say: There is not upon us in the matter
of the unlearned people any way [to reproach]; and they tell a lie against
Allah while they know" (Chapter 3, House of 'Imran, 75). The following was
also written about them in the New Testament: The Messiah [Jesus Christ]
revealed that they used to kill the prophets who lived among them. It can be
inferred, therefore, that if that is the way they treat their own kind, at
least some of them would do the same to the world's nations, for it is said:
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killer of prophets and stoner of those sent to her as
apostles, how many times I wished to gather your children, as the hen
gathers its chicks under its wings, but you did not want it. Behold, your
house will be left for you in ruins!"

[2] In the original: "Shari'at al-Tawrah", i.e. the Jewish religious law of
the Torah. Later, the author claims that The Protocols are a consummation of
the law of the Torah.

Dr. Ahmad Hijazi al-Saqa
[Professor of Comparative Religion at Al-Azhar University]3

[3] The author makes use of his expertise as a professor of Comparative
Religion and uses both Islamic and Christian sources to prove the alleged
authenticity of The Protocols (which, as is well known, are a collection of
shameless anti-Semitic fabrications).

Appendix A (1)
Back cover text of The Protocols-original

www.intelligence.org.il/eng/sib/2_05/prot.htm for illustrations

Appendix A (2)

Translation

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and their Biblical and Talmudic Origins
Authors: Dr. Ahmad Hijazi al-Saqa; Hisham Khadr
First edition: 2003
S/N: 2003/3584
All printing rights reserved
Publisher: Maktabat al-Nafidha
Giza : 2 Al-Shahid Ahmed Hamdi (al-Thalathini) - Faisal St., Tel.: 7233935

Appendix A (2)

Original
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/sib/2_05/prot.htm for illustrations

Appendix A (3)
Translation

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and their Biblical and Talmudic Origins

Dr. Ahmad Hijazi al-Saqa Hisham Khadr
Professor of Comparative at Al-Azhar University Journalist of the Qatari
newspaper Al-Sharqal-Awsat

Foreword: Dr. Ali Jum'ah
Professor of the Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence at Al-Azhar University
Publisher: Maktabat al-Nafidha

Appendix A (3)
Original
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/sib/2_05/prot.htm for illustrations

Appendix A (4)

Foreword to The Protocols (p. 8 in the book): The connection between classic
anti-Semitism (as expressed in The Protocols) and Islamic-rooted
anti-Semitism
In the name of Allah, the compassionate, the merciful
Thus spoke Allah, may he be exalted [in the Quran]: "And remember when We
made a covenant with the children of Israel: You shall not serve any but
Allah and [you shall do] good to [your] parents, and to the near of kin and
to the orphans and the needy, and you shall speak to men good words and keep
up prayer and pay the poor-rate [i.e., zakat]. Then you turned back except a
few of you and [now too] you turn aside. And when We made a covenant with
you: You shall not shed your blood and you shall not turn your people out of
your cities; then you gave a promise while you witnessed. Yet you it is who
slay your people and turn a party from among you out of their homes, backing
each other up against them unlawfully and exceeding the limits; and if they
should come to you, as captives you would ransom them-while their very
turning out was unlawful for you. Do you then believe in a part of the Book
and disbelieve in the other? What then is the reward of such among you as do
this but disgrace in the life of this world, and on the day of resurrection
they shall be sent back to the most grievous chastisement, and Allah is not
at all heedless of what you do. These are they who buy the life of this
world for the hereafter, so their chastisement shall not be lightened nor
shall they be helped" (Chapter 2, The Cow, 83-86).

www.intelligence.org.il/eng/sib/2_05/prot.htm for illustrations

Appendix A (5)

Referring the Arab reader to a French version of The Protocols featuring a
monstrous illustration of an ugly Jew in the form of a spider that dominates
the world
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/sib/2_05/prot.htm for illustrations

The cover of the French version, with a caption on the top saying "The
Jewish Menace", and a caption on the bottom saying "The Complete Edition of
the Protocols of the Elders of Zion"

Appendix A (6)

Fragments from the book's introduction (pp. 7-14), written by Professor Ali
Jum'ah (Professor of the Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence at Al-Azhar
University):

"If there are any disagreements over the book The Protocols of the Elders
of Zion regarding the Jewish wise men-whether they wrote it themselves or is
it only attributed to them-the plausible conclusion [is that] they [did]
write it. [This conclusion] relies on the fact that its [the book's]
contents coincides perfectly with the contents of the Torah, which was
written with their own hands, i.e.: "That the nations and the peoples to
them are as unclean dogs" (p. 7).

"When in days of yore the Sons of Israel believed in Allah, Allah stood by
their side: he rescued them from the house of the Pharaoh, provided them
with the manna and the quail, carved for them twelve springs from the rock
in Sinai, brought about their victory over their enemies and delivered them
to a land flowing with milk and honey. But when [the Sons of Israel] defied
the commandments of their god, he turned them into monkeys, pigs and
devil-worshippers" (p. 8). 4

[4.] The depiction of Jews as monkeys and pigs is common in Islamic-rooted
anti-Semitism.

"Residents of the world, these are the Jews, be sure to notice: they are a
people cursed by Allah, their maker. They help the corruptors corrupt the
land and the wicked spread wickedness in the world" (p. 13).

Part One: "The Biblical and Talmudic Origins of the Protocols of the Elders
of Zion" (pp. 15-80):

"Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?" (New
Testament, p. 21)5.

[5] The depiction of Jews as snakes originates in classic Christian-rooted
anti-Semitism and it is common in Arab and Muslim anti-Semitic publications.

"The Jews refused to join the religion of this prophet [Muhammad], the
religion of Islam, and therefore they deserved to be cursed by Allah, may he
be exalted-and that is to be banned from his mercy. And when they were
banned, they came to resemble the devil and his children as a result of that
curse" (p. 32).

"The Jews knew from the Torah that a prophet from the seed of Ishmael would
come, that he would strip them of their ownership and their prophecy, and
that he would hold mastery over the world. Therefore, they twisted the Torah
so as to make it theirs alone and said: "We have no duty to the Gentiles"
(Quran, Chapter 3, House of 'Imran, 75). They allowed themselves to extract
usury from the gentiles, fornicate with their wives and kill them for no
reason. They wrote in the Torah that Allah, may he be exalted, is their god
[and theirs alone] and not a god of all the nations of the land" (p. 42).

Appendix A (7)
Ali Jum'ah, the Mufti of Egypt and a professor at Al-Azhar University, is
the author of the foreword for The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and their
Biblical and Talmudic Origins. His foreword lends an air of dignity and
religious authority to The Protocols in Egypt and across the Muslim world .

SheikhDr. Ali Jum'ah, the Mufti of Egypt and Professor of the Principles of
Islamic Jurisprudence at Al-Azhar University, wrote the foreword for the new
edition of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion that was published in 2003
(The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and their Biblical and Talmudic
Origins.

Ali Jum'ah, born in 1952, was appointed the Mufti of Egypt on September 28,
2003. He is known for his unusual and militant religious rulings, such as
the approval of suicide bombing attacks6 he gave immediately after his
appointment as the Mufti of Egypt. Following the recent announcement made by
opposition figure Sa'adawi of her intent to run for presidency, Jum'ah
declared that according to Islamic law, she was not allowed to hold such a
high position.

[6] In an interview granted to Al-Hayat ( September 30, 2003), Ali Jum'ah
claimed that "acts of suicide [istishhad] are legitimate means for defending
the religion, the land, the soul, the goal and the money". In a discussion
held over the Internet, Ali Jum'ah stated that those who opposed the
"Zionist enemy" by acts of suicide were shahids (martyrs) according to
Islamic religious law, for those acts are carried out in self defense
(www.shabablek.com).

Ali Jum'ah is therefore a senior figure, renowned in Egypt as well as
throughout the Sunni Muslim world. In his capacity as the Mufti of Egypt and
a professor at Al-Azhar University-an institution known and respected by
Muslims worldwide-he provides The Protocols with Islamic legal validity and
a great deal of dignity and authority.

It should be mentioned that Ali Jum'ah's foreword for The Protocols drips
with intense hatred for the Jewish people. It rules unequivocally that it
was the Jews who composed The Protocols. It claims that the Jewish people
are "monkeys", "pigs", "devil-worshippers", "a people cursed by Allah", and
the source of corruption and evil in the entire world. Such anti-Semitic
expressions are spread and assimilated among wide reader audiences of
Muslims in Egypt and all across the Sunni Muslim world.

www.intelligence.org.il/eng/sib/2_05/prot.htm for illustrations

The opening part of Dr. Ali Jum'ah's foreword for The Protocols (p. 7 )

Appendix A (8)
um'ah-translation
[From the website of the Mafhoum organization, the Arab Decision project7.
The information is up to date for September 29, 2003].

[7] www.arabdecision.org
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/sib/2_05/prot.htm for illustrations
Sheikh Dr. Ali Jum'ah

[Year of birth:] Born in 1952
City of birth: Beni Suweif, Egypt
The Fatwah [i.e., Islamic religious ruling] Institute: The Grand Mufti of
Egypt
Fatwah Committee: Member of the Fatwah Committee

Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs: Member of the Supreme Council for
Islamic Affairs
Education
1973-B.A., Department of Trade, University of Ein Shams ( Egypt)
1979-Graduate of the Faculty of Islamic and Arab studies- Al-Azhar
University ( Egypt)
1985-Graduate (M.A.) in Jurisprudence and Constitution- Al-Azhar University
( Egypt)
1988-Ph.D., Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence, Al-Azhar University (
Egypt)
Previous positions:
2003-Member of the Al-Azhar Fatwah Committee ( Egypt)
2003-Head of the Department of Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence at
Al-Azhar University ( Egypt)
Current position
2000-2003-Lecturer at the Faculty of Islamic and Arab Studies ( Egypt)
2003-Member of the Islamic Law Committee at the Supreme Council for Islamic
Affairs ( Egypt)
2003-The Mufti of Egyptian [religious] courts ( Egypt)

Sheikh Dr. Ali Jum'ah-original
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/sib/2_05/prot.htm for illustrations

Appendix B

The Jewish Menace-The Protocols of the Elders of Zion: Tenth edition of a
popular version of The Protocols
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/sib/2_05/prot.htm for illustrations

Appendix B (1)

Translation
Translation: Muhammad Khalifa al-Tunisi
Foreword: Professor Abbas Mahmoud al-Aqqad
Publisher: Maktabat Dar al-Turath, Cairo, Egypt, tenth edition, 2003
All printing rights reserved to the publisher
Tenth edition
1424 H-2003
Maktabat Dar al-Turath- 22 Al-Gumhuriyyah St., Cairo, Egypt, Tel.: 3914223

Appendix B (1)

Original
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/sib/2_05/prot.htm for illustrations

Appendix B (2)

Translation

The Jewish Menace-The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
Muhammad Khalifa al-Tunisi
A first reliable, complete Arabic translation with an analytical foreword
[containing] over a hundred pages
The book and the translation were evaluated by the great Professor Abbas
Mahmoud al-Aqqad
Maktabat Dar al-Turath
Cairo

Appendix B (2)
Original
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/sib/2_05/prot.htm for illustrations

Appendix B (3)
"We the Jews are masters of the world, and its corrupters; we set off civil
strife in it, and we are its hangmen" (Dr. Oscar Levy)
www.intelligence.org.il/eng/sib/2_05/prot.htm for illustrations

The symbol of the Bolshevik Jew, encircled by a venomous snake. See the
British foreword, Protocol No. 3 and Professor Nilus's interpretation

Appendix B (4)

Notes to the Arabic translation-translation

Dear reader: Protect this copy [from any harm], for the Jews have used to
fight against this book whenever it appeared in some place or in some
language, and attempted to collect its copies at all costs and burn them.
This, so that the world would not discover their devilish plots, written in
here against it, plots that are laid bare in this book for all to see.

For the Arabic translation, we have assembled all the footnotes except for
five minor footnotes, which we have translated and noted "From the English
original" at the end of each one.

Everything in parentheses is our own addition.

The words "gentile" and also "gentiles" occur many times in this book, and
they refer to any human being or anything that is "not Jewish".

Notes to the Arabic translation-original

www.intelligence.org.il/eng/sib/2_05/prot.htm for illustrations
Appendix C

Editorial published in Al-Ahram al-Masaai ( January 25, 2005) under the
title "Plain Israeli extortion"

At the time Israel commits the worst of racist crimes against the
Palestinian people-crimes of killing, arrest, destruction of homes and lands
and assassination of resistance activists-it continues to make use of the
Nazi Holocaust, recently marked in a historical session of the UN on January
25, 2005, to blackmail the world. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan criticized
the world for not being able to prevent other crimes of extermination, such
as the crimes perpetrated in Cambodia, Rwanda and former Yugoslavia, and
called upon the international community to honor the victims of the Nazi
concentration camps and protect all the weak and threatened groups, in the
present and in the future. We agree with Annan's call, but we also call for
the creation of an international protection umbrella that will not be
limited to Jews alone but will rather include all groups given to
persecution and racist policy. First and foremost among those groups are the
Palestinian people, who face all the possible kinds of crimes of war and
extermination, under the open eyes of the international community without
anyone raising a finger, save for the passing of several laws against the
Israeli conduct, none of which were legally binding.
The Israeli Foreign Minister warned against what he termed "the return of
anti-Semitism". We say that this warning does not reflect an actual problem
as much as it reflects a method of action used by Israel in order to
blackmail the world and gain financial and moral support to cover the crimes
of racism in the conquered territories.

We ask the following: What is anti-Semitism compared to what the Israeli
army is doing, equipped with the latest American weapons, for bombing living
neighborhoods? What is anti-Semitism compared to the racist separation fence
justly denounced by the international court in Hague that demanded the
international community to take immediate action for its removal? What is
anti-Semitism compared to the assassinations of the leaders of the
Palestinian people, such as Sheikh Yassin, Rantisi, Khalil al-Wazir and
Yahya Ayyash?8 Using deceptive propaganda, Israel has been successful in
bringing the Bush administration to approve a law in 2004 ordering to
monitor expressions of anti-Semitism worldwide. This is a law designed to
restrict the liberties in the world, assisting Israel to continue its
aggressive policy and violate decisions made by international institutions.

[8] Three out of the four "leaders of the Palestinian people" mentioned by
the author of the article were leaders of Hamas, deemed a terrorist
organization both by the US and by the European community. Mentioned among
the Hamas leaders is Yahya Ayyash, also known as "the Engineer", who stood
at the top of the Hamas operative wing which, in the years 1994-1996 (when
the Oslo accords were underway), stood behind murderous terrorist attacks in
Israeli cities and was responsible for the deaths and injuries of hundreds
of Israeli civilians.

The unfortunate thing is that the UN embraces the Israeli view without even
considering the suffering of the Palestinian people under the Israeli
occupation, suffering not less terrible than the suffering experienced by
the Jews at the hands of the Nazis. The reference to that event must be used
as an opportunity to open the case of the violations perpetrated against the
Palestinians, for the Palestinian people are a people who bear the burden of
the various crimes perpetrated by the soldiers of the occupation. It is not
conceivable that the UN and the US should only protect the Jewish minority
and turn a blind eye to the crimes of racism in Palestine and in Iraq by the
soldiers of the occupation. We wonder: What does the UN do faced with crimes
against Muslim and Arab minorities across the globe, particularly in the US
after September 11?

It is clear that the continuation of the discriminatory policy by the
American administration or by the UN is not going to prevent these crimes
from happening again. All the while, Israel continues to claim rights for
itself, using the pretext of the massacres of the Holocaust, and takes away
these very same rights from others.