Louis Farrakhan, a minister for the Nation of Islam, has announced his intentions to sue the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC), and the SWC director Abraham Cooper, in a post made on the Nation of Islam’s website last week.
Farrakhan claims that he is suing the above parties for 1st Amendment violations and defamation.
Farrakhan is seeking $4.8 billion USD in compensation, alongside the fees associated with his lawsuit.
“The First Amendment provides that Congress make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise,” according to the White House. “It protects freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and the right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The website claims that “For over 40 years, the Defendants have falsely labeled Minister Farrakhan and the NOI as “antisemites,” and as “antisemitic” because of a difference in theological viewpoints, and for his pointing out misbehavior of some members of the Jewish community, among other things. “
“This false labeling has hindered Minister Farrakhan in his Mission, which is to deliver the Truth taught by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad that will correct the condition of spiritual, mental and moral death of the Black man and woman of America that came as a result of the 310 years of chattel slavery and over 150 years of oppression and suppression thereafter.
“Minister Farrakhan and the NOI, in bringing this action, are keenly aware that good, law-abiding citizens are likewise victims of this mischaracterization including, the late Nelson Mandela, President Jimmy Carter, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Bishop Desmond Tutu, and many more.
“The Defendants have, at times, indiscriminately and arbitrarily mislabeled countless politicians, entertainers, athletes, authors, educators, public speakers, academicians, comedians, and others, as being “antisemites” and as “antisemitic,” simply because, in many instances, the speaker did not agree with the Defendants’ point of view and, in some instances, simply because the person made a favorable comment about Minister Farrakhan and/or the Nation of Islam.
“The importance of this case extends far beyond the named Plaintiffs, but it encompasses every citizen of America who values the freedom of speech, the freedom to exercise his or her religion, and the freedom to associate with persons of like interests.
“These unjust actions by the Defendants, over the years, have caused many to fear their censure and rebuke, which, thereby, significantly erodes, and has a chilling effect, on the protections woven into the fabric of the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution and must not be accepted.
“If it is the will of Allah (God), Minister Farrakhan will personally address the filing of the lawsuit at a press conference in the near future.”
The claims made by Farrakhan’s legal team:
On page 14, section 59 of the legal document, Farrakhan’s legal team claim that “Minister Farrakhan never called for the extermination of Jews, and never physically or verbally attacked any Jewish person, but he sparked the ire of the ADL because he dared to defend Reverend Jackson and his family whose safety and well-being were literally being threatened by, upon information or belief, members of the ADL.”
Farrakhan’s team also claimed that “the then-National Director of the ADL, called Minister Farrakhan a “Black Hitler,” irrespective of the fact that Minister Farrakhan has never harmed a hair on the head of any Jewish person or even advocated for such,” on page 15, section 61.
The documents also claim that when Farrakhan said that “Now, that nation called Israel never has had any peace in forty years and she will never have any peace because there can be no peace structured on injustice, thievery, lying, and deceit, and using the name of God to shield your dirty religion under His holy and righteous name,” he was not referring to Judaism. They claim that this was to “do with sacrilegious people who use the good name of either Islam, Christianity, or Judaism as a shield for their dirty practices.”
The full legal documents are available to be read here.
Why has Louis Farrakhan been accused of antisemitism?
The ADL, in an article published on their website in 2019, note that Farrakhan has targeted the Jewish community with accusations that they were responsible for the slave trade, have tried to control the government, media, Hollywood and Black influential figures.
Farrakhan has also claimed that Judaism is a “deceptive lie” and a “theological error” promoted by Jews to further their “control” over the US government and economy, the ADL wrote.
In a 2018 tweet, Farrakhan claimed warned his 335,000 followers at the time of the “Satanic Jew.” In a speech made at the 23rd anniversary of the Million Man March in the same year, Farrakhan famously said “When they talk about Farrakhan, call me a hater, you know how they do – call me an anti-Semite. Stop it, I’m anti-termite!”
Other famous Farrakhan quotes that the ADL shared on their website include:
“Why isn’t the white man a native anywhere? You’re not a native Palestinian, no you’re not. You didn’t originate there. But if you did, then you’re the real Semitic people. But the Ashkenazi European, he has no connection at all to the Holy Land. None! So in a showdown prove to us that you are Semitic. Let’s go on with it, it’s our time now!” — Speech at Mosque Maryam, Chicago, Illinois, 11/18/18
“Do you know that many of us who go to Hollywood seeking a chance, we have to submit to anal sex and all kids of debauchery, and they give you a little part? The couch where you have to sit, it’s called the ‘casting couch.’ That’s Jewish power.” — Speech at Mosque Maryam, Chicago, Illinois, 5/27/18
“You and I are going to have to learn to distinguish between the righteous Jew and the Satanic Jews who have infected the whole world with poison and deceit.” — Speech at Mosque Maryam, Chicago, Illinois, 5/27/18
“But when you’ve got revelation that came to you from God through all these prophets, then that’s your test because if you use God’s truth that makes you wiser than others and use it to promote evil when you should be promoting good, then you’re no longer a Jew. And that’s why the scripture says, “I will make those who say they are Jews,” this is Revelation 2 and 9, ‘Who say they are Jews, but they are not, I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan.’ — Interview on WCGI 107.5 Chicago, 5/11/18
“When you want something in this world, the Jew holds the door.” — Saviours’ Day speech, 2/25/18
“Satan is going down. Farrakhan has pulled the cover of the eyes of the Satanic Jew and I’m here to say your time is up, your world is through. You good Jews better separate because the satanic ones will take you to hell with them because that’s where they are headed.” — Saviours’ Day speech, 2/25/18
“I don’t care what they put on me. The government is my enemy, the powerful Jews are my enemy.” — Saviours’ Day speech, 2/25/18
“Members of the Jewish community, who owned a lot of plantations, please don’t get angry and upset because this is real history, you put us back on the plantation as share croppers and began riding down on us, and if any of us escaped the plantation many of the Irish that were coming over, they call them the paddy wagon, they would come after us and bring us back to the plantation; those were hard days, hard days.” — Speech at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC, 11/11/17
“To my Jewish friends, I shouldn’t use the word ‘friends’ so lightly, you have been a great and master deceiver, but God is going to pull the covers all off of you.” — Saviours’ Day speech (part 2), 2/26/17
“I want to disabuse the Jews today of the false claim that you are ‘The Chosen of God,’ and that Israel, or Palestine, belongs to you; I want to disabuse you of that…And I'm going to tell you about your future: You that think you have power to frighten and dominate the peoples of the world. I am here to announce the end of your time.” — Saviours’ Day speech (part 1), 2/19/17
“We are feeling the effect of the planning of a small group of Zionists and some so-called Christians as well. The Synagogue of Satan and its companions are working day and night to destroy any unity among Muslims.” — Speech delivered in Iran, 2/10/16
“David — even though he may have made a mistake — he submitted and repented before God. This you false Jews have not done. No. You are not a Jew! I say you’re a so-called Jew. You are Satan masquerading as a covenanted people of God. You must be exposed, regardless of the consequences…” — The Time and What Must Be Done: Part 57, 2/8/14
“Did you know that Jesus had a real problem with the Jewish community? They had power, the rabbis of that day, over the Roman authorities just as they have power today over our government.” — Remarks at Indianapolis Convention Center, Indianapolis, Indiana, 12/1/13
“The Jewish media has normalized sexual degeneracy, profanity, and all kinds of sin.” — The Time and What Must Be Done, Part 20: Making Satan Known, 5/25/13
“You that think that those who refer to themselves as Jews are the real Children of Israel? No. You have made a real theological mistake and some of you have made a theological error because you know the truth, but yet you consider your wickedness in promoting a deceptive lie.” — The Time and What Must Be Done, Part 5, 2/9/13