PCUSA's choice of anti-Semitic speaker prompts college apology By John H. Adams The Layman Online Monday, March 1, 2004 On the recommendation of former General Assembly Moderator Fahed Abu-Akel, the Presbyterian Church (USA) sent a speaker to Wooster College in Ohio who gave a virulently anti-Israel speech and caused a storm that has lasted for months. The speaker, Samir Makhlouf of Atlanta, presented a slide show that depicted the Star of David morphing into a swastika and used materials from Third Reich propaganda that alleged that the Jews were conspiring to take over the world. "Most unfortunately and to the surprise and shock of those in attendance, Mr. Makhlouf … made anti-Semitic statements about the state of Israel and about Jewish people based on documents that are widely acknowledged to be forgeries and are a direct statement of bigotry and hatred," R. Stanton Hales, Wooster's president, said in an apology issued on Feb. 10. He continued: "Other inaccurate and misleading items were similarly claimed as fact. The speaker's host, a retired member of the College community, rose to challenge these claims during the question-and-answer period, and subsequent complaints were promptly made to the [Presbyterian Peacemaking] Program. Nevertheless, some in attendance, including some who departed before the challenge, were left with the impression that the claims were valid and that the College supported the claims. The College most certainly does not. "The College of Wooster has always prided itself on providing an open forum for issues of controversy to be discussed and fairly debated. However, the appearance of speakers whose messages include simple bigotry and hatred supported by intellectual dishonesty is unacceptable. For all issues, and especially for controversial ones, we must always seek to protect true academic freedom by providing presentations that are fair and intellectually honest. To the extent that the fall incident failed in that regard, the College is most regretful." Later, the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program issued a statement that was an apology – of sorts. It said "that the denomination's Peacemaking Program, Office for Interfaith Relations and the Office for the Middle East and Europe unequivocally disavow remarks and images reportedly used by" Makhlouf. "We regret that some in the audience may have been offended." That statement reiterated what the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program says is the denomination's "long-standing position affirming Israel's right to exist within legitimate and secure borders." Most of the rest of the statement focused on calling for concessions by Israel, including an end to its occupation in Palestinian areas, without any reference to suicide bombings and violence by Palestinians. But how did Makhlouf get the college assignment in the first place? He was not the Peacemaking Program's first choice. The person scheduled to speak was Rana Koury, the deputy general director of the International Center of Bethlehem. "All indications were that her speech would have been fair, accurate and balanced," Hales said. "Instead, with two days' notice, this speaker was denied a visa to travel to the U.S. and return, and the Peacemaking Program hurriedly arranged a substitute speaker, an Atlantan named Samir Makhlouf." Sara P. Lisherness, staff leader of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, which is part of the denomination's headquarters in Louisville, said she had to work fast to get a replacement and didn't have time to go through the normal channels of securing a recommendation from a partner church in Palestine or elsewhere. She said she called a "source" in Atlanta. Asked if that "source" was Abu-Akel, who has played a major role in shaping the denomination's policy on Israel and Palestine, Lisherness said, "I'm not willing to say that. But it happened in my shop. The only thing I can say is that it won't happen again." Contacted by The Layman Online, Abu-Akel, who conducts a ministry for international students in Atlanta, quickly acknowledged that he had recommended Makhlouf, who, like Abu-Akel, was raised as a Palestinian Christian. "I heard this man do an excellent presentation in a church," Abu-Akel said. But he said he would never have expected Makhlouf to make the kinds of statements that were attributed to him by observers and a reporter for the Cleveland Jewish News. Abu-Akel said he would collect information and meet with Makhlouf. Under no circumstances would he support statements that were racist, bigoted or anti-Semitic, he added. But he chastised the reporter for focusing on what happened at Wooster College. The big story, he said, was that Israel had denied Koury a visa to travel to the United States. Much of what Makhlouf said at Wooster was based on a propaganda document titled The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which was used by Adolf Hitler's Third Reich as part of its rationale for annihilating the Jews. The Protocols have also been used by the Ku Klux Klan and other supremacist groups in their racist appeals. Known to be a hoax and believed to have been created by Hitler's propagandists, The Protocols were the forged minutes of a meeting of Jewish leaders at the First Zionist Congress in Basil, Switzerland, in 1897, in which Jewish leaders allegedly plotted to take over the world. In fact, The Protocols, which originated in Russia, are believed to have been copied from an obscure satire on Napoleon III by Maurice Joly titled Dialogue aux Enfers. In September 2003, in what observers called a historic ruling, a Russian court declared that The Protocols were an anti-semitic forgery. A Los Angeles Times story reported the decision, with a comment from Tancred Golenpolsky, the publisher of the Moscow Jewish newspaper that won the ruling: "Up to now every country had disengaged itself from this shameful book, except Russia, where it was concocted." Observers said Makhlouf, in his diatribe against Israel, used The Protocols as if they were valid. "Makhlouf's 15-20 minute slide presentation was rife with dead Palestinian bodies 'proving' Israeli war crimes," Stephanie Garber wrote in the Feb. 6 Cleveland Jewish News. "The slide show ended with a Star of David morphing into a swastika, and had frames equating Zionism with Nazism. The 'equals' sign was then replaced by a 'greater than' sign, suggesting that Zionism was even worse than Nazism." This isn't the first time that Presbyterian Peacemaking Program leaders balked at apologizing for setting off a controversy. In 2001, the Peacemaking Program sponsored a speaker named Dirk Ficca, who asked, "What's the big deal about Jesus?," a question that ricocheted around the denomination. The context of the question was the speaker's belief that Jesus is merely one of many paths to God. When the controversy erupted over Ficca's presentation, the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program dug in and supported his comments. The controversy resulted in a number of attempts to repair the damage – including ambiguous statements about Jesus by the General Assembly Council and the full General Assembly. Finally, with the help of the Office of Theology and Worship, the 2003 General Assembly was able to put the matter to rest by declaring that there is salvation in none other than Christ. Makhlouf did have some defenders on campus. Danny George, a student and writer for the Wooster Voice, wrote an opinion peace saying, "I feel the need to defend the speaker against the accusations of anti-Semitism." He added, "These specious claims … are intended only to portray Mr. Makhlouf as a racist hothead, a shameful move which enables critics to dodge his piercing critique of the state of Israel, whose hawkish policies have contributed to the deaths of nearly 2,800 Palestinians and 900 Israelis in the past three years," he said. "Worse yet, the chorus of aspersions has drowned out Mr. Makhlouf's intended message of reconciliation, forgiveness, brotherhood and justice – themes which are painfully lacking in current discourse on the Middle East."

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