ADL says Latest 'Big Lie' is Taking Root Among Anti-Israel Conspiracy Theorists
NEW YORK/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The unauthorized publication of thousands of
pages of classified U.S. diplomatic cables by the WikiLeaks
organization has had a serious unintended consequence: the proliferation
of anti-Israel conspiracy theories claiming that Israel and the "Israel lobby" played a secret role in the documents' release.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said the WikiLeaks affair was "being
exploited to spread false and malicious conspiracy theories against Israel,"
as a part of a disinformation campaign that has gained traction with
those catering to the far right and the left, some Arab and Islamic Web
sites and others dedicated to spreading "anti-Zionist" messages like Islam Times and Hezbollah's
Al Manar
.
"Once again, as we saw with the 9/11 attacks and the financial
meltdown, we are seeing yet another manifestation of the Big Lie against
Jews and Israel," said Abraham H. Foxman,
ADL National Director. "The WikiLeaks affair has given new life to the
old conspiracy theories of underhanded Jewish and Israeli involvement
in an event with significant repercussions for the U.S. and many nations
around the world. The news is being exploited by conspiracy theorists,
some world leaders, and various Web sites across the ideological
spectrum to spread false and malicious conspiracy theories against Israel."
After 9/11, a widely circulated conspiracy theory suggested that Israel
and the Mossad were the true perpetrators of the terrorist attacks and
that "4,000 Jews" who worked at the World Trade Center had been
forewarned and did not show up for work that day. And during the
financial crisis in 2008, a rumor widely circulated on the Internet
suggested that just prior to the collapse of Lehman Brothers and other
major investment banks, $400 billion in funds was secretly transferred to Israeli banks.
According to ADL, WikiLeaks conspiracy theories are being promoted on
several Arab and Islamic sites and have also surfaced in articles on
conspiracy-oriented Internet sites catering to the far right and the
left. Among the claims is that WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian
Assange, "struck a deal" with Israel to withhold those cables that were "embarrassing to Israel," or that Assange actually works for Israel as a "spy" and that Israel's intelligence agencies orchestrated WikiLeaks as a public relations campaign.
On December 1, Huseyin Celik, a deputy leader of AKP, Turkey's ruling party, hinted in comments during a press conference that Israel could be responsible for WikiLeaks. "Israel is very pleased [with the WikiLeaks controversy]," he said. "Israel has been making statements for days, even before the release of these documents."
Similar claims have surfaced on anti-Zionist sites and even on
Al Manar
, a Lebanon-based news service run by the terrorist group Hezbollah. According to an ADL analysis, the narrative about Israel negotiating with Assange may have first surfaced in Al Haqiqa, an online publication affiliated with a Syrian opposition group.
"A number of commentators, particularly in Turkey and Russia,
have been wondering why the hundreds of thousands of American
classified documents leaked by the website last month did not contain
anything that may embarrass the Israeli government," reads an article
titled "WikiLeaks 'Struck a Deal' to Keep Away Anything Damaging to Israel," published on
Al Manar
. "The answer appears to be a secret deal struck between the
WikiLeaks 'heart and soul,' as Assange humbly described himself once,
with Israeli officials, which ensured that all such documents were
'removed' before the rest were made public."
Many of the conspiracy theories about Israel and WikiLeaks were promulgated by Gordon Duff, an anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist, and posted on his Web site, Veterans Today. Duff's articles have also appeared on white supremacist sites, including Stormfront, a popular forum for extremists.
Other allegations against Israel had their origins in the left-leaning Web site Indybay, which furthered the claim that WikiLeaks collaborated with Israel to restrict the publication of cables that could appear damaging to Israel.
Editors Note: To speak with an expert on the spread of anti-Israel conspiracy theories related to WikiLeaks contact ADL Media Relations at (212) 885-7755 or
adlmedia@adl.org
. More information is available online at
http://www.adl.org/main_Anti_Israel/conspiracy_theories_wikileaks.htm
The Anti-Defamation League, founded
in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism
through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and
bigotry.
SOURCE Anti-Defamation League
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