Here's a new antisemitic conspiracy theory from Yemen: Jews controlled the Church and the Crusades; Columbus was a Jewish Zionist colonialist ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Thursday, January 23, 2025

Here's a new antisemitic conspiracy theory from Yemen: Jews controlled the Church and the Crusades; Columbus was a Jewish Zionist colonialist

An article in Yemen's Houthi newspaper Al Thawra shows that antisemites never run out of conspiracy theories.

Written by Ibrahim Mohammed Al-Hamdani, the article claims that:

* Jewish people played a significant and manipulative role in instigating and shaping the Crusades. Jewish communities, particularly those involved in finance and banking, used their influence to manipulate European leaders and the Catholic Church for their own gain. Jews penetrated the church's hierarchy from the papal throne to the lowest servants.

* The Templar Knights are a prime example of a group manipulated by Jewish interests. It suggests that the Templars were not merely religious orders but rather secret societies acting under Jewish direction.

* Christianity was used as a tool by Jewish interests to manipulate and control populations. The Crusades and the colonization of the Americas are presented as examples of religious wars that were in fact driven by secular, material interests.

* Christopher Columbus was a Jewish agent who intentionally misled European monarchs about the Americas to establish a new base of power for Jewish interests. It argues that the colonization of the Americas was part of a larger Jewish plot for global domination.

* Columbus's primary motivation was acquiring gold to fund a military campaign to "liberate" Jerusalem. European colonization of the Americas was a Jewish-orchestrated plot to commit genocidal violence against indigenous populations.

* "Most of human history has been transformed – over successive centuries – into a purely Jewish product, whose racist sayings people share, believe in its hostile myths, document its bloody, brutal criminal scenes, and fight its wars on behalf of, believing that they are their own wars and battles."

Antisemitic conspiracy theories are interesting because they are not usually made up completely from scratch but find a tiny piece of information that is not well known and then extrapolate it to crazy conclusions. In this case, I see that a journal of Columbus' first voyage to America, referenced in the article, includes his desire to use gold and spices found in America for Spain to conquer the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. That seems to be what started this article.

To call that a Jewish plot is, obviously, insane.

I have seen new conspiracy theories sprout up, take hold and spread in Arabic language media for years afterwards. We'll see if this one re-appears in coming months and years.