Contemporary imprints of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
"The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" is a fabricated antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan to achieve global domination. The text was fabricated in the Russian Empire, and was first published in 1903. While there is continued popularity of "The Protocols" in nations from South America to Asia, since the defeat of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan in World War II, governments or political leaders in most parts of the world have generally avoided claims that "The Protocols" represent factual evidence of a real Jewish  conspiracy. The exception to this is the Middle East, where a large number of Arab and Muslim regimes and leaders have endorsed them as authentic. Past endorsements of "The Protocols" from Presidents Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat of Egypt, Iraqi President Arif, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, and Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi of Libya, among other political and intellectual leaders of the Arab world, are echoed by 21st century endorsements from the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Ekrima Sa'id Sabri, and Hamas, to the education ministry of Saudi Arabia. Middle East. As popular opposition to Israel spread across the  Middle East in the years following its creation in 1948, many Arab governments funded new printings of the "Protocols" and taught them in their schools as historical fact. They have been accepted as such by many Islamist organizations, such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. A 2005 report by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center found that Arabic editions issued in the Middle East were being sold as far away as London. There are at least nine different Arabic translations of the "Protocols" and more editions than in any other language including German. The "Protocols" also figure prominently in the antisemitic  propaganda distributed internationally by the Arab countries and have spread to other Muslim countries, such as Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Syria. The "Protocols", together with other antisemitic materials published there, is distributed throughout the Arab world. In 1997, the two-volume 8th edition of the "Protocols", translated and edited by 'Ajaj Nuwaihed, was published by Mustafa Tlass's publishing house and exhibited and sold at the Damascus International Book Fair (IBF) and at the Cairo IBF. At the 2005 Cairo IBF, a stand of the Syrian publisher displayed a new, 2005 edition of the "Protocols" authorized by the Syrian Ministry  of Information. In Syria, government-controlled television channels occasionally broadcast mini-series concerning the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", along with several other anti-semitic themes. Egypt. The "Protocols" were featured in a 1960 article published by Salah Dasuqi, military governor of Cairo, in "al-Majallaaa", the official cultural journal. In 1965, the Egyptian government released an English-language pamphlet titled "Israel, the Enemy of Africa" and distributed it throughout the English-speaking countries of Africa. The pamphlet used the "Protocols" and "The International Jew" as its sources and concluded that all the Jews were cheats, thieves, and murderers . Iran. The first Iranian edition of the "Protocols" was issued during the summer of 1978 before the Iranian Revolution after which the "Protocols" were widely publicized by the Iranian government. A publication called "Imam", published by the Iranian embassy in London, quoted extensively from the "Protocols" in its issues of 1984 and 1985. In 1985 a new edition of the "Protocols" was printed and widely distributed by the Islamic Propagation Organization, International Relations Department, in Tehran. The Astan Quds Razavi Foundation in Mashhad, Iran, one of the wealthiest institutions in Iran, financed publication of the "Protocols" in 1994. Parts of  the "Protocols" were published by the daily Jomhouri-e Eslami in 1994, under the heading "The Smell of Blood, Zionist Schemes". Sobh, a far right monthly newspaper, published excerpts from the "Protocols" under the heading "The text of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion for establishing the Jewish global rule" in its December 1998 – January 1999 issue, illustrated with a caricature of the Jewish snake swallowing the globe. Iranian writer and researcher Ali Baqeri, who researched the "Protocols", finds their plan for world domination to be merely part of an even more grandiose scheme, saying in Sobh in 1999 : "The ultimate goal of the Jews ... after conquering the globe ... is to extract from the hands of the Lord many stars and galaxies". In April 2004, the Iranian television station Al-Alam broadcast "Al-Sameri wa Al-Saher", a series that reported as fact several conspiracy theories about the Holocaust, Jewish control of Hollywood, and the "Protocols". The Iran Pavilion of the 2005 Frankfurt Book Fair had the "Protocols", as well as "The International Jew" available. In 2008 "The Secret of Armageddon", an Iranian TV "documentary" claiming that "a Jewish Plan for the Genocide of Humanity," includes a conspiracy for  the takeover of Iran by local Jewish and Baháʼí Faith communities was based on the Protocols. On the other hand, Iranian author Abdollah Shahbazi, known for his historical reports of several important events of Iran's history, has denied the authenticity of the "Protocols" officially on his website and has referred to several international investigations as the basis of his claim. Palestinian National Authority. According to Itamar Marcus the PNA frequently used the "Protocols" in the media and education under their control and some Palestinian academics presented the forgery as a plot upon which Zionism is based. For example, on  January 25, 2001, the official PNA daily "Al-Hayat al-Jadida" cited the "Protocols" on its "Political National Education" page to explain Israel's policies: Disinformation has been one of the bases of moral and psychological manipulation among the Israelis ... The "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" did not ignore the importance of using propaganda to promote the Zionist goals. The second protocol reads: "Through the newspapers we will have the means to propel and to influence". In the twelfth protocol: "Our governments will hold the reins of most of the newspapers, and through this plan we will possess the  primary power to turn to public opinion." Later that year the same newspaper wrote: "The purpose of the military policy is to impose this situation on the residents and force them to leave their homes, and this is done in the framework of the "Protocols of Zion"..." The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Sheikh Ekrima Sa'id Sabri appeared on the Saudi satellite channel Al-Majd on February 20, 2005, commenting on the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. "Anyone who studies "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and specifically the Talmud," he said, "will discover that one  of the goals of these Protocols is to cause confusion in the world and to undermine security throughout the world." In 2005, it was reported that the Palestinian Authority was referring to the "Protocols" in a textbook for 10th grade students. After media exposure, the PA issued a revised edition of the textbook that does not include references to the "Protocols". "The New York Times" reported that Palestinian Authority Minister of Information Nabil Shaath removed an Arabic translation of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" from his ministry's website. Europe. In August 2012, the Conference of European Rabbis  appealed to Apple Inc to stop selling an Arabic-language version of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" which was being sold via iTunes. Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt explained that to "disseminate such hateful invective as a mobile app is dangerous and inexcusable." Yuli Edelstein, Israel's Minister of Public Information and Diaspora Affairs, supported the appeal, explaining that "they wouldn't allow pedophilia and pornography on their networks. They shouldn't allow xenophobia, anti-Semitism or racism." Greece. The "Protocols" is published in Greece by several ultra-right-wing publishers such as Ouranos and Mpimpis. During the last decade , the book has received wide promotion by parliamentary right-wing extremists, most notably Kyriakos Velopoulos. Italy. In 2010, an Italian editor has been convicted on charges of libel for publishing the "Protocols". He had been sued by the Jewish community of Turin. North America. United States. The "Protocols" have had a tumultuous history in the United States ever since Henry Ford began publishing extracts and commentaries of them in "The Dearborn Independent"s column "The International Jew". Later, he reprinted the commentaries in a multi-volume series, also called The International Jew. The "Protocols" were republished as fact in 1991 in  Milton William Cooper's conspiracy book "Behold a Pale Horse", though Cooper himself holds the Illuminati and not the Jews at fault. The American retail chain Wal-Mart was criticized for selling "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" on its website with a description that suggested it might be genuine. It was withdrawn from sale in September 2004, as 'a business decision'. It was distributed in the United States by Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam. In 2002, the Paterson, New Jersey-based Arabic language newspaper "The Arab Voice" published excerpts from the "Protocols" as true. The paper's  editor and publisher Walid Rabah defended himself from criticism with the protestation that "some major writers in the Arab nation accept the truth of the book." In 2011, Christian writer and conspiracy theorist Texe Marrs published an edition of the "Protocols", with a foreword of his own authorship and additional notes by Henry Ford. Soviet Union and post-Soviet states. The Soviet Union. Howard Sachar describes the allegations of global Jewish conspiracy resurrected during the Soviet "anti-Zionist" campaign in the wake of the Six-Day War: In late July 1967, Moscow launched an unprecedented propaganda campaign against Zionism as  a "world threat." Defeat was attributed not to tiny Israel alone, but to an "all-powerful international force" ... In its flagrant vulgarity, the new propaganda assault soon achieved Nazi-era characteristics. The Soviet public was saturated with racist canards. Extracts from Trofim Kichko's notorious 1963 volume, "Judaism Without Embellishment", were extensively republished in the Soviet media. Yuri Ivanov's "Beware: Zionism", a book essentially replicated "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion", was given nationwide coverage. The Russian Federation. Despite stipulations against fomenting hatred based on ethnic or religious grounds (Article 282 of Russia Penal Code), the "Protocols" have  enjoyed numerous reprints in the nationalist press after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In 2003, one century after the first publication of the "Protocols", an article in the most popular Russian weekly "Argumenty i Fakty" referred to it as a "peculiar bible of Zionism" and showed a photo of the First Zionist Congress of 1897. The co-president of the National-Patriot Union of Russia Alexander Prokhanov wrote: "It does not matter whether the "Protocols" are a forgery or a factual conspiracy document." The article also contained refutation of the allegations by the president of the Russian Jewish congress  Yevgeny Satanovsky. As recently as 2005, the "Protocols" was "a frequent feature in Patriarchate churches". On January 27, 2006, members of the Public Chamber of Russia and human rights activists proposed to establish a list of extremist literature whose dissemination should be formally banned for uses other than scientific research. Asia. Malaysia. "The Protocols" have been in circulation in Malaysia since 1983. Mahathir Mohamad distributed copies of "The Protocols" during his years in office as prime minister of the country. In 2006, Masterpiece Publications issued a version of the "Protocols" under the title "World Conquest Through World Jewish Government" (). Pakistan . A edition was published with the title "Jewish conspiracy and the Muslim world" under the editorship of Misbahul Islam Faruqi in the late 1960s and republished in 2001. Other contemporary appearances. To a great degree, the text is still accepted as truthful in the Middle East, South America, and Asia, especially in Japan where variations on the "Protocols" have frequently made the bestseller lists. In Turkey, "The Protocols" are particularly popular with ultra-nationalist and Islamist circles. "The Protocols" was first published in the magazine "Millî İnkılâp" ("National Revolution") in 1934 and triggered the Thracian pogroms ("Trakya Olayları") the same  year. It ran through over 100 editions from 1943 to 2004 and remains a best-seller. In Romania, "The Protocols" was published in the early 1990s by nationalist writers and neo-legionar groups as Protocoalele Înţelepţilor Sionului. It was widely read in urban areas and mentioned by the people who were disappointed by the new economic rules and inflation. The New Zealand National Front sells copies published by their former national secretary, Kerry Bolton. Bolton also publishes (and the NZNF sells) a book titled "The Protocols of Zion in Context" that seeks to refute the idea that the "Protocols" are  a forgery. In Indonesia, a translation of the "Protocols" is available in Indonesian in a bundle with "The International Jew". The books were translated and published in 2006 by the Hikmah division of the publisher Mizan.