Apple Books selling reviled antisemitic conspiracy text for 49p

Apple Books is selling The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, a well-known antisemitic conspiracy text, for just 49p on its UK site, it has emerged.

The document was written by Russian author and self-proclaimed Orthodox Christian mystic Sergei Nilus in 1905 as the final chapter of the second edition of his 1903 book The Great within the Small and Antichrist, which predicted the imminent coming of the Antichrist, the so-called “false Christ” of the Christian gospels.

It is regarded by many historians as responsible for popularising a number of prominent antisemitic conspiracy theories, including that of global Jewish domination and control of the media, and has long since been found to be a fabrication.

But it remains available to buy for just 49p on Apple’s e-book service, bearing a blurb from its publisher urging customers to “read and decide by yourself” whether the boon is “truth or hoax”.

"When the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion were first discovered, Freemasons and Zionist Jews everywhere screamed and complained that these 24 Protocols are a hoax, a forgery, even a blood taint against the Jews,” it added.

"But then came the brutal and barbaric Communist Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and its captive republics, led by covert Masonic Jews [Vladimir] Lenin, [Leon] Trotsky, [Lazar] Kaganovich, and others.

"The cruel and sinister crimes of the crypto-Jew revolutionaries seemed to have jumped off the pages of the Protocols.

"The Red Terror, with its torturous massacres of innocent people, its monstrous gulag concentration camps, and the setting up of a Jewish dictatorship, also followed the agenda of the Protocols as did the persecution everywhere of Christians and churches.”

While both Trotsky and Kaganovich were of Jewish heritage, there is no evidence either were members of the Freemasons and all Masonic lodges in Russia were closed following the Bolshevik Revolution. Lenin’s mother was born a patrilineal Jew but converted to Christianity before marrying his father.

Under Lenin, the communist government implemented anti-religious policies which suppressed Jewish as well as Christian and Islamic practices. Lenin also had Trotsky assassinated by the NKVD state security services after the latter had been exiled to Mexico City.

The listing for the book also links the protocols to current events, saying: “Find out how the protocols are still being worked in our day and how our freedoms, even our very lives, are in jeopardy.”

In response to the revelation that the book was available on Apple’s site, Labour frontbencher Matthew Patrick MP, a parliamentary private secretary in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, condemned its sale in a letter, seen by the JC, to Emma Haselhurst, Apple’s head of UK governmental affairs.

"The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is the most famous antisemitic text ever produced. It was central to promoting belief in an international Jewish conspiracy and was used by the Nazis for this very purpose,” he wrote.

"It purports to be the minutes of meetings held secretly by Jewish men plotting to control the world. Exposed many times as a forgery, the Protocols has been used to excuse countless antisemitic acts.

"This is a failure to protect Jewish people and stop antisemitic conspiracy theories from being spread.”

He called on Apple to remove the book from its store, citing a decision by bookshop chain Blackwells to do so in 2022.

He added: “The rise of antisemitism is a defining moment in modern history. Without resolute action, the world risks entering a dark new era where antisemitism is once again condoned, allowed to fester, and institutionalised.

“I hope Apple will take the appropriate steps now this has been highlighted to remove this book from your site.”

Topics: