Egypt , although it has a peace treaty with Israel , publishes a wide range of anti-Semitic material distributed throughout the Arab-Muslim world. Its hate industry exploits two types of anti-Semitic myths, the classic Christian-European and those rooted in Arab-Islamic culture. The anti-Semitic publications do not distinguish between vicious criticism of the State of Israel and the Zionist movement, and crude incitement to hatred of the Jewish people. ¹

In this report we will present selected passages from two anti-Semitic books published in Egypt in 2005 and examine the individuals and institutions ( some of them widely respected ) responsible for them. Both books, which are based on the myths in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and on political interpretations of religious Islamic sources, preach hatred of Israel and the Jewish people and provide religious Islamic sanction for violence against them . One author even uses his Internet site to spread his anti-Semitic propaganda.

It should be noted that the motifs appearing in the books are not original, but are recycled from the wealth of anti-Semitic material published in Egypt and the Arab-Muslim world. It should also be noted that the books nourish and are in turn nourished by the current on-going public discourse in the Arab-Muslim world regarding Holocaust denial, as begun by the statements made by Iranian president Ahmadinejad. ²

The front cover (left) shows two hands holding a rope tied around a group of Palestinians who are carrying the Palestinian flag-wrapped body of a shaheed (martyr for the sake of Allah) at his funeral. One hand is painted with the American flag, the other with the Israeli flag. The inscription in the upper left-hand corner reads: “So that we may understand the importance of the war against terrorism” (i.e., it is the Palestinians who are struggling against “terrorists” who are, it may be inferred, Israelis and Americans). The upper left inscription on the title page reads: “From the Balfour Declaration… to America's Black September” (i.e., the author views modern Zionist history, beginning with the Balfour Declaration and leading up to the events of September 11, 2001 in the United States, as milestones in the “Zionist international subversive plot” against the Palestinians in particular and the rest of the world in general). The book develops a conspiracy theory, according to which the Israeli Mossad and right-wing elements in the United States were behind the attack on the World Trade Center .

The back cover gives a summary of the book's main argument : the establishment of the State of Israel (the “alien entity”) is nothing more than an “international Zionist plot” against the Arab-Muslim world, and the book reveals its extent and importance…

The book, which is anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli and anti-American, was written by Dr. Zaghloul Ragheb Muhammad el-Naggar . At the beginning of the book he is described as a professor of geology and a research fellow at the Islamic Academy of Sciences in Jordan ³and head of the Study of Qur'an Miracles Committee at the High Council for Islamic Affairs in Cairo .

• Dr. el-Naggar was born in Bassioun , Egypt , in 1933. He studied and has lectured at many universities in both Arab countries and the West : Eyn al-Shams University in Cairo; the King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; University of Wales in Britain (where he received his doctorate in geology in 1963); Kuwait University in Kuwait; Qatar University in Doha, Qatar; and the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. From 1977-1978 he was a visiting lecturer at the University of California .

• He was elected to the committee awarding an international prize for science in Japan , participated in many international conferences and lectures a great deal on the Qur'an. He was the director of the Faculty of Islamic Studies at the Markfield Institute of Higher Education in Britain , ⁵ and has published more that 150 scientific studies and articles and 25 books in Arabic, English and French.

• He hosts many TV programs and has a weekly column in Al-Aharam discussing the Qur'an, and his articles are published in other newspapers and magazines in Egypt as well. He has been a scientific advisor and member of the editorial board of scientific journals published in New York , Washington , Paris , India and Qatar .

The book was published in Cairo by the Nahdet Misr Group , one of the largest publishing houses in Egypt and in the Arab world as well, which was founded in 1938. The offices of its directors are in Al-Muhadndesin, a neighborhood in Giza . It publishes a wide range of material, specializing in children's books and magazines, educational books, fiction and non-fiction for adults and religious Islamic publications. It has its own Internet site, www.nahdetmisr.com .

Quotations from the Introduction (pp. 3-4)

“ Humanity, throughout its long history, has not known a plot more dangerous, more despicable, more contemptuous than that contrived against the Palestinian people during the last hundred years. It is a plot directed by the Jews with great deviousness and carried out by the imperialist powers headed by Britain , France , Italy and the United States … ” (boldface in the original).

“The Jews libeled Allah with the story that he promised Abraham, may he rest in peace, the land of Palestine , to him and his seed, forever and ever until Judgment Day. They consider that insult, that falsehood, as divine permission to call themselves the lords of Palestinian land and to expel the inhabitants and scatter and kill them, to steal their money and property, settle in their houses and take over their lands.”

The book claims the Jews want to control the land of Palestine from the Euphrates to the Nile . They view the area, says the book, as their “eternal property” and the matter as “completely settled,” as written in Exodus, which the author calls the “fake Bible,” as well as in both the Old and New Testaments.

“Zionism is a Jewish-Western project, personifying the elements of the Jewish-Crusader [i.e., Christian] racist beliefs… it aspires to establish a state for all the Jews of the world within boundaries they [the Jews] have defined in their sick imaginations as being from the Nile to the Euphrates . Their aim is [for the Jewish state] to be the foundation for controlling all the people of the globe through what they [the Jews] call “the global government,” as mentioned in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion . It is a movement sick with extreme, deplorable racism, xenophobic [exhibiting] hatred for others, carrying a grudge against them and the desire to abuse, rule and control them ” (p. 12).

The author often quotes Qur'an verses hostile to the Jews, adding anti-Semitic exegeses (pp. 5-17). For example, the verse about “the corrupt” [Al-Mufsidin] is quoted and interpreted as relating to the Jews. He then adds that “because their souls are neurotic , the infidel Jews take many names upon themselves, for example, [they call themselves] the World Zionist Movement. They do that to carry out their despicable plots” (p. 12).

Towards the end of the book (pp. 202-238) the following conspiracy theory is presented for the events of September 2001 in the United States : The (absolutely ridiculous) claim is made that it is very probably true that the Israeli Mossad or American right-wing elements carried out the attacks. The claim is based on the fact that the American right had already carried out an attack in Oklahoma and the “Zionists” wanted to incriminate Muslims. Osama bin Laden, claims the book, could not have carried out such a large-scale attack.

The book also claims that the American government has ignored the fact that the September 11 attack was a protest against its foreign policy and was not directed against the American people. That can be judged, according to the book, but the targets chosen: the World Trade Center, called “the symbol of [American] economic sovereignty; the Pentagon, called “the symbol of global American military oppression;” and the White House [sic], called “the symbol of the many injustices enforced upon various countries by American policy, with its obvious arrogance and ugly pride” (p. 203).

Dr. Zaghloul el-Naggar also has an Internet site , www.elnaggarzr.com , whose Arabic pages he exploits to spread his anti-Semitic and anti-American propaganda and to preach the use of violence . ⁷ He also uses it to advertise his books, videos and CDs. The site deals with theology, the relation between religion and science and between religion and politics, and besides Arabic, appears in English, French and German, the last two of which are so far inoperative.

The site provides synopses of books written by Dr. el-Naggar, including The Plot: Milestones in Zionist and World Subversion of the Palestinian People. The synopsis, which is actually an advertisement for the book, contains the following: “Zionism is a Jewish-Western project, personifying the racist elements of Jewish belief. It is a political project aspiring to establish a large State of Israel which will be the country of all the Jews in the world. It is to be within boundaries they [the Jews] defined in their sick imaginations, from the Nile to the Euphrates , giving them a base from which to rule all the people of the world through what they call the global government .”

The site contains false, clearly anti-Semitic political commentary for Qur'an verses. For example, the commentary for the Surah called Al'umran (the third Surah of the Qur'an) ⁸ says: “These holy verses hint at the Jews, as their despicable intentions and their hatred of justice and just men, their arrogance towards other nations, their godlessness and fraud . They [the verses] also warn Muslims against their [the Jews'] plots and conspiracies .

The site has also gives religious sanction for the use of violence against Israel through false, misleading political interpretation of the Qur'an. For example, the commentary for the Surah called Al-Namal (the 27 th Surah) says: “There is another sanction for killing in self-defense of anyone who oppresses others and without right expels them from their lands, like our oppressed brothers in Palestine, who were thrown off their lands and separated from the property and homes by the scum of the world's nations [the Jews], who are the dregs of Western Zionist imperialism. However, the holy Surah also mentions that Allah, may his majesty be exalted, can vanquish them [the Jews]… In addition, in more than one verse the holy Surah deals with the reward of jihad warriors who fight for the sake of Allah and those who are martyred [ shuhadah ] on the field of battle in jihad… ” ⁹

The publishing house and author

The book was issued by Al - Hdara Al-Arabiya Center (The Center for Arab Civilization), apparently a fairly small publishing house (compared to the Nahdet Misr Group). It issues books about religion and politics and has an Internet site: www.alhdara-alarabia.com . The author is Ahmad Tawfiq Anwar . Neither in the book nor on the Internet could we find information about him and his name might be a pseudonym.

The following information is found on the back cover under the heading “ In the book :” It is a “ study of the Jews' plans to take over the world, based on The Protocols of their Meetings [i.e., The Protocols of the Elders of Zion ] and on the facts [resulting from] their religious thought and their evil deeds during various periods of history.” The book deals with “ the search for a model or method which will enable nations interested to do so to deal with the Zionist plan .”

Excerpts from the Introduction (pp. 5-7)

“Anyone following the developments in the international arena since the beginning of the [21 st ] century has realized that whoever controls money and knowledge can turn world developments to his own ends by creating, managing and solving crises. He [whoever has money and knowledge, i.e., the Jews, according to what follows] makes use of a number of tools: he uses money to tempt people and buy influence, sex as a temptation and afterwards threats and various means of oppression (different kinds of terrorism).”

“There is no choice but to create world powers which will work in that direction [against the Jews] , and that is what we will try to prove, with the help of Allah. [That can be done] by studying the plans of that people [the Jewish people] to take over [the world] based on The Protocols of their Meetings [ The Protocols of the Elders of Zion ], which embody their religious thought, [by studying] what they have done to the world during various historical periods and by researching what is said about them in the holy Qur'an and in the pure laws of the prophet [Muhammad].”

Excerpts from the book

As a way of spreading hatred of the Jews, the author chose Biblical events to present the Jews in a negative light. For example, he uses the story of the Golden Calf to show the children of Israel 's lack of faith in God during the time of Moses. He notes the problems the Jews caused Moses and the punishments inflicted on them during their wandering in the desert (p. 14).

To illustrate the Jews' nefarious plans, the author turns to other material from the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For example, he tells a horror story (with no source noted) from the events of 1929, in our opinion a complete fabrication, about the theoretical massacre of the family of an imam in a mosque by Jews (p. 30). He states: “The Arabs attacked the Jews and the Jews broke into the house of the imam in the mosque, murdered him and all six members of his family, cut open their stomachs and smashed the heads of his wife, baby and nephew.” It should be noted that the pogroms of 1929, all well-documented, in which Jews were brutally murdered in Hebron and Zefat by Arab rioters, are not mentioned anywhere.

The chapter entitled “ How the Jews plan to take over the world ” accuses the founders of the Rothschild bank, at the end of the 18 th century, of updating the The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as part of the Jewish plan to take over the world (pp. 117-122). The author presents what he claims is the revised version of The Protocols , which he says was distributed at the Zionist Congress in 1897. He also claims that The Protocols are the Zionist movement's constitution and instruction manual.

The author compares Judaism to Nazism in the chapter entitled “The Jewish problem and Nazism,” and claims that while the Nazis were racist and believed in the superiority of the Aryan race, Judaism is also racist and stands for the superiority of the Jewish race. He also quotes Mein Kampf 's defamations of the Jews, stating, for example, that “we have seen the Jews sticking their noses into the great issues of the world, and they have had a hand in revolutionary event ... (pp. 225-230).

At the end of the book the author presents his plan for dealing with world Jewry, which is, in his opinion, return to the religion of Islam (pp. 237-253). He asks (p. 252) “why should be wait and follow [events] from afar? If they [the Jews] are aided by Satan to carry out their plan, we must be aided by Allah . If for a hundred years they have carried out their plan, with the aid of Allah, may he be praised and exalted, ten years [of return to religion] will be sufficient to show Allah the sincerity of the believers and their united hearts, to rid humanity of the most dangerous bacteria affecting its history…

⁴ From the Islamic Internet site of “The Encyclopedia of the Scientific Miracle of the Qur'an and Sunnah. The link to information dealing with Dr. el-Naggar is http://www.55a.net/firas/arabic/index.php?page=pro_alem&id=11 .
⁵ For its Website see http://www.mihe.org.uk . According to the Islamic Foundation's Website, http://www.islamic-foundation.org.uk , the Markfield Institute is affiliated with the Islamic Foundation, which was established in 1973 in Leicester , England .
⁶ For example, an update version on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion published in Egypt in 2003 was written by Dr. Ahmad Hijazi al-Saqa (professor of Comparative Religion at Al-Azhar University ) and Hisham Khadher (a Qatari journalist). The foreword was written by 'Ali Juma' (professor of the sources of Islamic law at Al-Azhar University ). The three, all of whose names appear on the front cover, lend the book an air of religious and academic respectability.
⁷ On the other hand, the main English page is devoted to agriculture and science in the Qur'an, with links to Dr. el-Naggar's translated articles, most of which deal with the scientific and agricultural aspects of the Surahs.
⁸ See http://www.elnaggarzr.com/Test_fre/Index.asp?result=1&Prv=1&Data=483 .
⁹ See http://www.elnaggarzr.com/Test_fre/Index.asp?result=1&Prv=1&Data=531 .