Irving Comments Raise Questions About Anti-Semitism By Extreme Black Groups
Anti-Semitic comments cost Brooklyn Nets basketball star Kyrie Irving his job, at least for now, and other similarly vile comments have cost rapper, Kanye West, tens of millions in lost endorsements.
Both matters are just the tip of a massive anti-Semitic iceberg that has been festering for many years in the most radical sectors of the African-American community, whose adherents profess misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and especially anti-Semitism.
Irving used his Instagram page to hype the movie and book, “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America” while West used terms familiar to the radical, violent, anti-Semitic wing of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement. The book and film and West’s vitriol contained numerous demeaning, bigoted references to Jews that have long been debunked but are in line with extreme Black Hebrew Israelite dogma, including West’s claim that “you guys have toyed with me and tried to blackball anyone whoever opposes your agenda” and that he “actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also.”
The 208 minute film was directed and produced in 2018 by Ronald Dalton Jr. for just $8,000. The movie is available for purchase on Amazon for $40 or rented for $11 and is based on the book that was a №1 seller in Amazon’s religion and spirituality category. The film also is available through the platform, ironically named “Yidio” which is not an anti-Semitic slur but rather is short for “Your Internet Video.”
The film claims to uncover “the true identity of the Children of Israel by proving the true ethnicity of Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, the Sons of Ham, Shem & Japheth. Find out what Islam, Judaism and Christianity has covered up for centuries in regards to the true biblical identity of the so-called ‘Negro’ in this movie packed with tons of research.”
In response to the storm of criticism, Dalton tweeted, “I’m not apologizing for nothing because i can’t be Anti-Semitic because i’m an Israelite (Shemite). Still waiting for a debate with the Top Rabbis to prove who is a Israelite by blood & who can rightfully use the word ‘Anti-Semitic’.”
The film, based upon Dalton’s 2015 book of the same name, promotes Black Hebrew Israelite beliefs that some people of color, including Black Americans, “are the true descendants of the biblical Israelites.” The film alleges that the Jews of today are not actual Jews and that the Jews culturally appropriated the religious heritage of Black people and then covered it up.
The film claims that it “uncovers the true identity of the Children of Israel,” while a similar claim for the book reads, “Since the European and Arab slave traders stepped foot into Africa, blacks have been told lies about their heritage,” all directly quoting the Black Hebrew Israelite movement.
Dalton claims to back up his claims, in part, by referring to an alleged 1976 interview by Walter White Jr., with Harold Rosenthal, an aide to former N.Y. Sen. Jacob Javits. Rosenthal allegedly said that the mass media has been helping the Jews or “Satan deceive the world” for many years. It has been determined that the quote was a figment of the imagination of White Jr., a known anti-Semite who included it in a pamphlet he created, called “The Hidden Tyranny.” A review by the White Supremacist website, the Colchester Collection, says that White’s interview “might have broken the Zionist control over America — had the Jew-dominated ‘mainstream’ media not completely suppressed it.”
“Rosenthal was administrative assistant to the Zionist/Marxist senior Senator from New York, Jacob Javits, wherein he arrogantly boasted not only of the existence of an ‘inner invisible world of Jewry’ but of its near-absolute domination over practically every aspect of American life,” the website notes. Interesting except that Rosenthal never made the comments or was even interviewed by White.
The book’s fourth chapter, titled, “When Did Racism Towards Blacks Start?” falsely states that anti-Black racism can be traced back to key Jewish texts.
“Western Education and Religion tries to teach the world that blacks are cursed with their skin color by the Curse of Ham/Canaan.” The curse of Ham is described in the Book of Genesis as imposed by the patriarch Noah upon Ham’s son Canaan. The story’s original purpose may have been to justify the biblical subjection of the Canaanites to the Israelites but in later centuries, the narrative was interpreted by some Christians, Muslims and Jews as an explanation for black skin, as well as a justification for slavery of black people. Dalton writes that the so-called curse of Ham is taught in European Jewish documents and in the teachings of the Talmud book in Judaism.
“Some can say that it established the base for black racism even before the KKK,” the book claims.
The book also quotes the infamous anti-Semitic hoax, The “Protocols of the Elders of Zion,”which purports to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. The hoax was first published in Russia in 1903, translated into multiple languages, and disseminated internationally in the early part of the 20th century. The tome played a key part in popularizing the belief in an international Jewish conspiracy. The protocols remains widely available in numerous languages, in print and on the Internet, and continues to be presented by neofascist, fundamentalist and anti-Semitic groups as a genuine document.
Other passages in the film include quotes from Henry Ford’s anti-Semitic diatribe, “The International Jew,” Holocaust denial, attacks on Zionism, and conspiracy theories about the Rothschild banking family.
Black Hebrew Israelites, also called Hebrew Israelites, Black Hebrews, Black Israelites, and African Hebrew Israelites, believe that they are the descendants of the ancient Israelites. To varying degrees, Black Hebrew Israelites incorporate aspects of Christianity and Judaism, though they have created their own interpretation of the Bible.
The Black Hebrew Israelite movement originated at the end of the 19th century, when two self-proclaimed prophets, Frank Cherry and William Saunders Crowdy, claimed to have received visions that African Americans are descendants of the Hebrews in the Bible.
Cherry, who worked as a sailor, claimed to have had a vision that African Americans are the descendants of the ancient Israelites. He established and led a congregation in Chattanooga, Tenn., in 1886, where he preached that white people were inherently evil and hated by God. Cherry espoused anti-Semitism, claimed that the earth is square, and professed that Jesus would return in the year 2000 to start a race war.
Crowdy, a soldier, preacher, entrepreneur, theologian, and pastor, was one of the earliest Black Hebrew Israelites in the United States. He established the Church of God and Saints of Christ in 1896 after he claimed to have had visions telling him “That blacks were descendants of the 12 lost tribes of Israel.”
Black Hebrew groups were founded in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, from Kansas to New York City, by both African Americans and West Indian immigrants. In the mid-1980s, there were between 25,000 and 40,000 Black Hebrews in the United States.
The Southern Poverty Law Center wrote that the broad Black Hebrew Israelite movement is rooted in Black Judaism, which began in the South during the late 1800s, and gained popularity during the 20th century through its key tenets of “self-empowerment and economic independence.”
The Anti-Defamation League noted that the Black Hebrew Israelite movement includes various organizations that “operate semi-independently.” The more extreme factions claim that Black people have been “robbed of their identity as being ‘God’s chosen people’,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The more radical sects repeat common anti-Semitic tropes, including that European Jews, which some refer to as the “synagogue of Satan,” have major control over banking and the media. Jews also are accused of being responsible for slavery and the “effeminizing of Black men.” Extremist Black Hebrew Israelites say that white people are agents of Satan, Jews are liars and false worshipers of God, and Blacks are racially superior and the only true “chosen people.” Some leaders and street teachers also push homophobic, transphobic and sexist beliefs, including referring to the LGBTQ community as demonic and not loved by God.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) noted that “Some, but not all [Black Hebrew Israelites], are outspoken anti-Semites and racists.” The SPLC wrote that “most Hebrew Israelites are neither explicitly racist nor anti-Semitic and do not advocate violence.” The FBI’s 1999 domestic terrorism risk assessment concluded that “the overwhelming majority of [Black Hebrew Israelites] are unlikely to engage in violence.”
As of December 2019, the Southern Poverty Law Center listed 144 Black Hebrew Israelite organizations as black separatist hate groups because of their anti-Semitic and anti-white beliefs”. Tom Metzger, a former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, reportedly said, “They’re the black counterparts of us.”
In 2008, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) wrote that the extremist fringe of the Hebrew Israelite movement believes “that Jews are devilish impostors and … openly condemn Whites as evil personified, deserving only death or slavery.”
The SPLC characterizes as Black supremacist, groups including the Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge, the Nation of Yahweh and the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ. The Anti-Defamation League said that the “12 Tribes of Israel” website, is maintained by a Black Hebrew group and promotes Black supremacy.
In 1999, the FBI terrorism risk assessment report noted that the violent radical fringe members of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement hold “beliefs [that] bear a striking resemblance to the Christian Identity theology practiced by many white supremacists.”
Incidents of violence linked with the Black Hebrew Israelite movement included the murder of Alberta Williams King, the mother of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Mrs. King was shot and killed on June 30, 1974, by Marcus Wayne Chenault, who had adopted the theology of a Black Hebrew Israelite preacher and had shown interest in a group called the “Hebrew Pentecostal Church of the Living God.”
On Dec. 10, 2019, two men who had expressed interest in the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, killed a police detective at Bayview Cemetery, and three people at the JC Kosher Supermarket in Jersey City. The victims were the Jewish co-owner of the grocery store, an employee, and a Jewish shopper and their assailants were killed in a shootout with police
On Dec. 28, 2019, a man with a machete attacked several Orthodox Jews during Hanukkah celebrations in a house in Monsey, N.Y. The killer’s journals included references to Black Hebrew Israelites, stating that “Hebrew Israelites” have taken from “ebinoid Israelites,” a term that refers to the Black Hebrew Israelites. White people and white Jews are commonly referred to as “Edomites” or descendants of “Esau” and biblical enemies of Jacob (Israel). They are described as hairy and ugly, and some teachings of BHI believe that Edomites will become slaves in heaven.
The Southern Poverty Law Center reports that the most radical organizations embrace and promote extremist, racist, antisemitic, homophobic and sexism. A partial list includes:
* Israel United in Christ, Inc. (IUIC)
Israel United in Christ (IUIC) was founded in 2003 in New York as a splinter organization of the Israeli School of Universal Practical Knowledge. Founder Nathaniel Ray (aka Bishop Nathanyel Ben Israel) built the organization into an international entity. Israel United in Christ has 71 United States locations and is increasing its international presence through 20 foreign locations.
Examples of the group’s anti-Semitism include a a recorded sermon on Jan. 21, 2020, when Nathanyel Ray referred to Jews as “the devil that the Bible even speaks of,” “the so-called Jews,” “the house of demons,” and specifically called Chasidic Jews “evil despots.” In October 2020, the group’s main Facebook account posted, “Black people have been experiencing a Holocaust since the 1400s and the #Jewish man has perpetuated the situation.”
Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge (ISUPK)
The sect believes that they are the only true Black Hebrew Israelite group. It operates as a non-profit in Upper Darby, Pa., and is led by General Yahanna, aka John Lightborne. The group sells clothing that includes a T-shirt depicting a slave ship and the Middle Passage of the slave trade with the words “True Holocaust.”
In February 2019, a founding member of the Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge said that “The only real Jews on the planet are the black, Hispanic, and native Indians. Ain’t no white man ever going to be a Jew. They are imposters in this land. Even Hitler knew it, even Hitler knew.”
* The Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ (ICGJC)
The Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ continues to operate in Harlem, until recently under the leadership of the late Jermaine Grant, aka Chief High Priest. Grant died on April 1, 2020, from COVID-19 and the church released a statement calling the death of their “Spiritual Leader, The Holy God Sent Comforter, Holy Apostle and Chief High Priest” a “tremendous loss.”
David Anderson and Francine Graham, the perpetrators of the December 10, 2019 attack on a kosher market in Jersey City, New Jersey, had links to ICGJC. Anderson and Graham deliberately targeted the Jewish market and Anderson posted anti-Semitic content to social media prior to the attack.
Literature available on their website includes teachings such as:
“Can Caucasians be Jews according to the Bible? NO!”
“Are the so-called Negros in America Africans? No! They are the real Hebrew Israelites (Jews).”
“The Jew-ish people are imposters (The suffix “ish” = 1. Pertaining to; 2. as or like. Example: as a Jew or like a Jew but NOT a ‘Jew’).”
In January 2020, Grant and another member were convicted of using ICGJC funds to illegally finance their own activities. The two stole more than $5.3 million from the organization and its members. Grant was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. He died in April 2020 while waiting to begin serving his sentence.
* Sicarii Hebrew Israelites aka The Sicarii aka Exodus 17:15
Sicarii is a reference to the Jewish Zealots who, in the decades preceding Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 CE, strongly opposed the Roman occupation of Judea and attempted to expel them and their sympathizers from the area. The Sicarii are regarded as one of the earliest known organized assassination units of cloak and daggers.
Just as the zealots advocated violence, Sicarii Hebrew Israelites preaches one of the more extreme and violent ideologies. Originally a California-based group, the organization has established camps in 10 U.S. cities.
During street teachings, Sicarii members have claimed that Jews “stole” their identity through the slave trade, Jews living in Israel are imposters, white people are the devil, and furthered anti-Semitic conspiracy theories of a Jewish plan to rule the world.
* House of Israel (HOI)
The group has multiple chapters across the country. On Oct. 28, 2020, the Philadelphia chapter posted a video to social media that included people shouting anti-Semitic phrases at Jewish men during a protest following the fatal officer involved shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. The recording captures taunts of “Revelation 2:9 the Synagogue of Satan,” “Amalek,” and “Y’all know that we’re the real Jews right.
* True Nation Israelite Congregation aka True Nation
The California-based faction has spread nationally since the early 2010s and has worked to establish international connections. Literature on the faction’s website includes comments such as “This sect [Edomites] of Jew impostors have stolen our history, written records and have perverted the laws of the scriptures. However, Christ knows the BLASPHEMY (lies) of them which say they are Jews and are not.”