The 'Protocols,' Past and Present

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The "Protocols of Zion" movie finds, within driving distance of Ground Zero, groups of black nationalists, neo-Nazis, and Palestinian-Americans who take the "Protocols" at face value. The black nationalists, preaching on a downtown street corner, consider Pepsi-Cola part of the Zionist conspiracy ("Pay Every Penny Support Israel") and New York City itself a pawn of the Jews (with recent mayors Michael Bloomberg and Rudy "Jew-liani" as proof); the neo-Nazis see the "Protocols" as proof of the foresight of Hitler's genocide; and the Palestinian-Americans, most troublingly, weave it into a confused patchwork of Jews, Masons, and members of Yale's Skull and Bones secret society en lurking behind the iron fist of American power, and by extension, the state of Israel.

In Paterson, N.J., where stores bear names like "Palestine" and "Aqsa," the publisher of the local paper the Arab Voice came under fire for publishing the "Protocols" in his newspaper. He did it, he said, "to educate the people." Levin is both director and interrogator here, pacing the screen with a hip-hop MC's nervous energy, waving his arms around by way of gesticulation, and speaking to his interviewees like he was spitting lyrics onstage, and what he finds is profoundly disturbing. In the confused minds of poorly educated, angry men, no matter what their agenda or racial background, anti-Semitism becomes a healing balm, and the "Protocols" a spark of truth in a world that appears to them to be a constant whitewash.

America, of course, is not the only place where the "Protocols" have found new life. Egyptian television broadcast a miniseries based on the "Protocols" called "A Knight Without a Horse." It aired during the month of Ramadan (the Muslim television world's equivalent of sweeps week) in 2002. This 41-part series sought to portray the 20th century history of the Arab world as affected (and derailed) by the machinations of the Jews, seen here as demonic hook-noses in Chasidic garb, meeting in candlelit chambers to plan Egypt's destruction. Aside from its obvious inaccuracies (Benjamin Franklin is referred to as a former president of the United States, and Israeli leaders look like Polish yeshiva students), "A Knight" is a profoundly disturbing web of lies, partial truths, and truths spun together, so that history and racist fantasy grow tangled and inseparable.

The anti-Semitic canard of the "Protocols," as Levin astutely points out, is merely a modern replacement for the ancient slur against the Jews: namely, their role in the death of Jesus. Whether in medieval Europe, turn-of-the-century Russia, or modern Egypt, anti-Jewish thought always revolves around the scapegoating of Jews for the crimes of others, or merely for the world's imperfections and inequities. The "Protocols" are merely the latest incarnation of nearly two millennia of anti-Semitic hostility, but in their historical ubiquitousness they serve as proof that some forms of hatred simply cannot be debunked. They provide answers in a world where anger spills over unchecked, where the answers provided by politics and religion are not up to the task of accounting for the world's injustices.

Jewish history is rife with the lies told about their nefarious practices, from Christ-killing to blood libel to secret global domination. The Protocols are not the problem; they are merely its expression, and Eisner and Levin both adopt a mournful tone when it comes to discussion of its eradication, because this malevolent weed simply will not die.

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