Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, has long expressed anti-Semitic and anti-white rhetoric. He is a frequent speaker on college campuses and at rallies. During the 2016 U.S. Presidential campaign, Farrakhan stated that he admired how Donald Trump had steered clear of Jewish special interest money. A look at some of Farrakhan’s statements reveal a pattern of bigotry.

On Jews

““How many of you have the friendship of Jews or the hatred of Jews, where you can’t even say a kind word about me? And you’ve got to answer to them. It’s in the Book of John; the people got afraid to say anything good about Jesus, because the Jews jumped on them. That’s what they did to Nick Cannon That’s what they did to others who say they love Farrakhan.”

“The enemies of Jesus were Jews…They turned away from God and used the skill and wisdom that God gave them to trick people into sin. Now, Satan has to be exposed. The liar has to be exposed.”

Saviour’s Day Speech, 2/27/22

“Did you know that pedophilia, homosexuality, sex trafficking, is the work of Talmudists?” Referring to several Jews accused or convicted of crimes, he added no one was talking about them, “Because Talmudic, satanic Jews are the ones that feel nobody has a right to punish them for what the Talmud has made lawful to them.” (Video, July 24, 2019, Benjamin Kerstein, “Notorious Antisemite Louis Farrakhan Falsely Claims Talmud Permits Sex Crimes,” theAlgemeiner, (July 25, 2019).

Following his ban from FaceBook, Farrakhan gave a speech at a Chicago church on May 9, 2019, in which he said: “I used that platform [Facebook] with respect,” Farrakhan told the crowd, according to the Chicago Tribune. “I have not said one word of hate. I do not hate Jewish people. Not one that is with me has ever committed a crime against the Jewish people, black people, white people, no matter what your color is. As long as you don’t attack us, we don’t bother you.”

The Tribune noted that minutes before, Farrakhan spoke about how some are angry with him because “he exposed their hatred of Jesus in the Talmud” and said he was “here to separate the good Jews from the satanic Jews.” (JTA, May 10, 2019)

“To the members of the Jewish community that don’t like me, thank you very much for putting my name all over the planet because of your fear of what we represent. I can go anywhere in the world and they've heard of Farrakhan. Thank you very much.”

“I'm not mad at you because you're so stupid,” Farrakhan continued. “So when they talk about Farrakhan, call me a hater, you do what they do, call me an anti-Semite. Stop it, I’m anti-Termite.”

Speech at anniversary of Million Man March, 10/14/18

“Satanic Jews have infected the whole world with poison and deceit.”

Sermon, 5/27/18

“The Jews have control over those agencies of government. When you want something in this world, the Jew holds the door.”

Saviour’s Day Speech, 2/25/18

“Powerful Jews are my enemy.”

Saviour’s Day Speech, 2/25/18

“Jews were responsible for all of this filth and degenerate behavior that Hollywood is putting out, turning men into women and women into men…. White folks are going down. And Satan is going down. And Farrakhan, by God’s grace, has pulled a cover off of that 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.”

Saviour’s Day Speech, 2/25/18

“It is now becoming apparent that there were many Israelis and Zionist Jews in key roles in the 9/11 attacks. Israelis had foreknowledge of the attacks... We know that many Jews received a text message not to come to work on September 11”

Saviour’s Day Speech, 2015

"They [the Jews] are the greatest controllers of Black minds, Black intelligence. They write the scripts -- the foolish scripts on television that our people portray. They are the movie moguls that feature us in these silly, degrading, degenerate roles. The great recording companies that portray our people in such a filthy and low-rating way, yet they would not allow such a man as Michael Jackson to say one word that they thought would besmirch their reputation, but they put us before the world as clowns and as purveyors of filth. No, I will fight that."

Meet The Press interview, 10/18/98

"Of course, they [the Jews] have a very small number of people but they are the most powerful in the world, they have the power to do good and they have the power to do evil...Now what do the Jews do best? Well, they have been the best in finance that the world has ever known...They finance a lot of stuff in the world, and there's nothing wrong with that, but they are not good politicians, they are the worst politicians because they don't recognize really their friends and as well their enemies..."

Saviours' Day Speech, Chicago, 2/22/98

"I believe that for the small numbers of Jewish people in the United States, they exercise a tremendous amount of influence on the affairs of government...Yes, they exercise extraordinary control, and Black people will never be free in this country until they are free of that kind of control..."

Meet The Press interview, 4/14/97

"To continue to point out the truth of that control and how that control never will allow us to be full and completely men, free, justified, and equal. Why should we be controlled by the power, influence, and money of others? We should not be under that kind of control...going to Jewish philanthropists, begging them for money to support our causes, and through that money, there is control, and that kind of control limits the freedom of our people to speak freely, write freely, think freely, and act as free men..."

Meet The Press interview, 4/14/97

"And you do with me as is written, but remember that I have warned you that Allah will punish you. You are wicked deceivers of the American people. You have sucked their blood. You are not real Jews, those of you that are not real Jews. You are the synagogue of Satan, and you have wrapped your tentacles around the U.S. government, and you are deceiving and sending this nation to hell. But I warn you in the name of Allah, you would be wise to leave me alone. But if you choose to crucify me, know that Allah will crucify you."

Saviours' Day Speech, Chicago, 2/25/96

"I don't own Hollywood. Who depicted Black people? Who writes the books? Who writes the plays, the songs that make us look less than human? Do you mean to tell me that Jews have never done any evil to Black people?...Were they not involved in the slave trade? Yes, they were...and to the extent that they were involved, somebody has to bring them to account. And I believe that has fallen on me."

Interview with New York Amsterdam News, 1/8/94

On “Jewish Conspiracies ”

“The false Jew will lead you to filth and indecency. That’s who runs show business. That’s who runs the record industry. That’s who runs television.”

Sermon, 5/27/18

“The Jews have control over those agencies of government. When you want something in this world, the Jew holds the door.”

Saviour’s Day Speech, 2/25/18

“White people running Mexico are Mexican-Jews.”

Saviour’s Day Speech, 2/25/18

“They [Israel and Jews] have been working for years to control your representatives in Congress, in the Senate, in the House of Representatives. They don’t fear America because they control it from within”

Saviour's Day Speech, 2015

Mentioning National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and presidential advisor Rahm Emanuel, Farrakhan said, "Every Jewish person that is around the president is a dual citizen of Israel and the United States of America...And sometimes, we have to raise the question, 'Are you more loyal to the state of Israel than you are to the best interests of the United States of America.'"

News conference at the National Press Club, 10/19/98

"I look at Lucianne Goldberg, Linda Tripp, Monica Lewinsky, and I ask myself, 'Why was this introduced at this time when Netanyahu was being pressured by the president to give up more land on the West Bank,'...I think we need to look deeper into this than just what appears on the surface."

Meet The Press interview, 10/18/98

"Don't be afraid of the Zionists. Don't be afraid of their power, Mr. Clinton. Stop bowing down."

Speech at Howard University, Washington DC, 10/16/98

"They call them [Hezbollah] terrorists, I call them freedom fighters...No one asks why they would do such a thing. Why would they do such a thing? What has driven them to this point? That's what the UN, the U.S. and Europe doesn't want to deal with because the Zionists have control in England, in Europe, in the United States and around the world."

Speech at the District Council 33 Union Hall,
Philadelphia, PA, 4/22/96

"How did we get into World War II? You say Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Yes, they did, but what were the forces that created in Japan the desire or the need to force them to attack America? You don't know that. But when America went to war after the attack on Pearl Harbor, she had to borrow money. There were the international bankers again. They financed all sides. And how many millions of Americans lost their lives? Suppose Hitler was trying to destroy the international bankers controlling Europe, but he went about it by attacking a whole people. All Jews are not responsible for the evil of the few who do evil...But certain Jews have used Judaism as a shield."

Saviours' Day Speech, Chicago, 2/26/95

On the Holocaust

"The Jews have been so bad at politics they lost half their population in the Holocaust. They thought they could trust in Hitler, and they helped him get the Third Reich on the road."

Saviours' Day Speech, Chicago, 2/22/98

"German Jews financed Hitler right here in America...International bankers financed Hitler and poor Jews died while big Jews were at the root of what you call the Holocaust...Little Jews died while big Jews made money. Little Jews [were] being turned into soap while big Jews washed themselves with it. Jews [were] playing violin, Jews [were] playing music, while other Jews [were] marching into the gas chambers..."

Mosque Maryam, Chicago, 3/19/95

On Jewish Involvement in the Slave Trade

"[U]ntil Jews apologize for their hand in that ugly slave trade; and until the Jewish rabbis and the Talmudic scholars that made up the Hamitic myth -- that we were the children of Ham, doomed and cursed to be hewers of wood and drawers of water -- apologize, then I have nothing to apologize for."

Interview in Swing magazine, 9/24/96

"How did I get to be an anti-Semite...What have I done? I told the truth about Jewish involvement in the slave trade. Your own writers say the same thing. Well, if they're not anti-Semitic for writing it, how the hell am I anti-Semitic for reading what they wrote and then saying it?...I didn't write your history, you wrote it. And then the sad thing, when you confront them with what their scholars have said, they say, 'Well is this part of the old conspiracy talk?'"

Mosque Maryam, Chicago, 3/19/95

On Israel

"They [Israel] wouldn't allow me to go to Jerusalem. If I had gone they might have stoned me. I didn't want to repeat history. I know they stoned Jesus. I know they've killed the prophets of God there."

Saviours' Day Speech, Chicago, 2/22/98

"I believe that for the small numbers of Jewish people in the United States, they exercise a tremendous amount of influence on the affairs of government. ... Mr. President, Mr. Clinton, instead of exercising the strength of a man whose country contributes at least $4 billion every year to the state of Israel, America has influence in Israel but is not using that influence in a constructive way, but, rather, pays lip service to the Palestinians while she bows to the dictates of Netanyahu and the strong political Jewish lobby."

Meet The Press interview, 4/14/97

At the end of a talk to students at the University of Tehran law school, Farrakhan led the chanting of the common Iranian refrains “Death to Israel” and “Death to America,” and was joined by members of the audience.

Tasnim News Agency, 11/4/2018

On Dialogue with Jews

"I want to sit down and dialogue with members of the Jewish community with no preconditions. That demand for me to apologize comes out of an arrogance that makes one feel that if I am critical of Jewish behavior relative to Black people, that all of a sudden I have to apologize for being critical...I don't think that I should have to apologize unless I am shown that there is something that I have said that is not correct. Then I would have no problem...to ask for forgiveness..."

Meet The Press interview, 10/12/97

"...I'm afraid that you [Jewish people] will come to regret the day that I offered you a chance to let us sit down together and dialogue and you, in your emotional reaction, rejected that offer...You will [regret it] because if my influence and growth and power in America does not diminish and it will not, by the help of God, then what benefit would it be to you not to sit down and dialogue with me when the racial problem is not getting any better..."

Fox News Sunday interview, 3/30/97

On Whites

According to a journalist's account, "Farrakhan called 'the white man' the 'anti-Christ' to rousing applause."

Jackson, MS, 9/19/97, Clarion-Ledger 9/21/97

On the U.S. Government

“The Jews have control over those agencies of government. When you want something in this world, the Jew holds the door.”

Saviour’s Day Speech, 2/25/18

“They [Israel and Jews] have been working for years to control your representatives in Congress, in the Senate, in the House of Representatives. They don’t fear America because they control it from within”

Saviour's Day Speech, 2015

"It is not accidental that the Black male is in the condition he is in..." This is because of a "...conspiracy of our government against the Black male" along with "...our [Blacks'] failure to accept responsibility for our actions..."

Meet The Press interview, 10/12/97

The Final Call (September 2, 1997) reported that "he [Farrakhan] said Blacks in America are under a 'death decree' from the U.S. government but America is under a 'decree of death' from God." (Baltimore, August 15, 1997) He also told that same audience that there is a "conspiracy to dumb you down."

"A decree of death has been passed on America. The judgement of God has been rendered and she must be destroyed..."

Harlem, NY, 8/9/97, New York Amsterdam News, August 14-20, 1997

On Homosexuals

"...I think that when you warehouse Black men in prisons and they have a sexual drive that is being titillated by the lyrics and by the cultural degeneracy that pervades America today, this sexual need is sometimes filled with activity that God disapproves of."

Meet The Press interview, 10/12/97

"It seems like being gay or whatever sin you wish to be a part of is okay...but I have the duty to lift that gay person up to the standard to ask if they want to live the life that God wants them to or live the lifestyle that they want to live."

Boston speech, 8/7/97

On “Mainstream ” Blacks

"That's a slave talking. Who was he [Julian Bond] talking to? He was talking to his masters. Sir, I am not the least bit disturbed by that. Any time the Jewish philanthropists financed the NAACP, they have a stake in what the NAACP does. So the leaders of that organization have to kowtow to those kinds of powers. That's what I'm angry about. I'm hateful of their inordinate control over black politicians, black intellectuals, black organizations, and I will fight to destroy that kind of control as long as God gives me health and strength. We will never be free until we are free of that kind of control that limits our ability to state exactly what we think and what we feel."

Meet The Press interview, 10/18/98

"You are the National Association of Black Journalists that works for white institutions."

Addressing the National Association of Black Journalists, August 21, 1996

Sources: Copyright Anti-Defamation League (ADL). All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission;
Katelyn Caralle, “Louis Farrakhan: ‘Jews are my enemy,’ ‘white folks are going down,’” Washington Examiner, (February 28, 2018);
Farrakhan Rails Against Jews, Israel and the U.S. Government in Wide-Ranging Saviours' Day Speech, ADL, (February 26, 2018).
“Farrakhan Promotes Antisemitism, Anti-vaccine Conspiracies in “Swan Song” Saviours’ Day Address,” ADL, (February 28, 2022).

Photo: Tasnim News Agency licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Black-Jewish Relations: Minister Louis Farrakhan - In His Own Words