A British conspiracy theorist known for his outlandish ideas about lizard people and "Zionists" controlling the world is set to perform in a Vancouver civic theatre this weekend, provoking outrage from Jewish groups.Icke claims that he is not against Jews at all, but only "Rothschild Zionists".
David Icke, a former sports broadcaster, is scheduled to give a full-day presentation at the Orpheum Theatre on Saturday. The theatre is operated by the city, and officials have denied requests to cancel the show from groups like B'nai Brith Canada and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
Aiden Fishman of B'nai Brith Canada described Icke's views as "classic anti-Semitic ideas" and said the booking should never have been allowed.
"It's totally, totally incompatible with the City of Vancouver's role as an open and tolerant multicultural municipality to allow Mr. Icke to speak at a city-owned facility, after we've brought all these concerns to their attention," Fishman told CBC News.
Deep concern from Jewish groups
In an interview Thursday, Icke was furious about the campaign against his show, describing the claims made by Jewish groups as "libellous."
His presentation, according to his website, will cover everything from "reptilians" — shape-shifting alien-human hybrids — to the truth about the moon, which he believes is a hologram projected from Saturn.
"If what they say is true, why will I spend 10 hours talking on Saturday and not even mention Jewish people once? They need to explain that," Icke asked.
But in videos of his lectures posted online, he frequently uses another phrase, "Rothschild Zionists." These are the people he suggests are responsible for causing the 2008 financial crisis, staging the 9/11 attacks and generally controlling the world's banking and political systems.
That phrase, according to Fishman, is pretty obvious code for Jewish people.
In this 2010 essay on his site, he says
Ask most people about Zionism and they will say ‘that’s the Jews’, but while this is the impression the Rothschild networks in politics and the media have sought very successfully to ‘sell’ as ‘common knowledge’, it is not true. It represents only a minority of them and many others who are not Jewish.Yet when he goes through a list of who he considers "Rothschild Zionists" in positions of power, surprise, they all happen to be Jews (with many of them unknown to be Zionists at all.)
So Icke says with a straight face:
[T]he Rothschild Zionists control the mainstream media; Hollywood and the movie industry; governments, not least in the United States; and crucially in the light of current events, they control global finance and commerce....Nah, nothing to do with Jews.
Hilariously, Icke quoted a 2008 humor column by Joel Stein, about how proud he was that Jews control Hollywood, to prove that "Rothschild Zionists" control Hollywood - but then he lamely says it has nothing to do with Jews:
The Los Angeles Times columnist, Joel Stein (Rothschild Zionist), wrote an article proclaiming that Americans who don’t think Jews (Rothschild Zionists) control Hollywood are just plain ‘dumb’:The City of Vancouver is saying that as long as Icke only talks about "Zionists" controlling the world and being responsible for 9/11, then there is no violation of Canadian laws:
‘I had to scour the trades to come up with six Gentiles in high positions at entertainment companies. But lo and behold, even one of that six, AMC President Charles Collier, turned out to be a Jew! … As a proud Jew, I want America to know of our accomplishment. Yes, we control Hollywood.’
I emphasise again that we are not talking here about ‘the Jews’ owning the media, Hollywood, politics, banking and big business, but a tiny clique answering ultimately to the secret society that I call Rothschild Zionism.
In an email, a spokesperson for the City of Vancouver wrote that it cannot infringe on Icke's freedom of speech without evidence that his presentation will include illegal hate speech.A simple replacement of the word of "Jews" with "Zionists" in any Nazi text would ensure that they can be read in public in Vancouver without violating hate laws.
"The City has explicit requirements in its theater rental agreements that govern the conduct of renters and has confirmed with Mr. Icke and his team their obligation to comply with all Canadian laws relating to the content of their presentation," the email reads.
Come to think of it, this is exactly how the "pro-Palestinian" crowd thinks, too.
And remember that Alice Walker, the prize-winning novelist of the "anti-Israel" crowd, believes in Icke's theories as well.