First published in Russian in 1903, and purporting to be a record of a secret meeting of a Jewish cabal gathered to plot world domination, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion has been translated into many languages and inspired Jew haters of every stripe. Its Middle Eastern admirers have included Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser and Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal, and it was just recently photographed on display in the lobby of the Central Council of Palestinians in Germany. Yigal Carmon surveys the book’s continued influence:

Like it did for the Nazis, the Protocols justifies the goal of annihilating the Jews. For the Arabs, it would also justify annihilating the state of Israel. It resolves two cognitive dissonances afflicting Arab and Muslim societies. First, it explains why the Arabs have failed in their struggle against Israel: were it not for the global Jewish-Zionist conspiracy, Israel would have been wiped out long ago. Second, it explains why Muslim societies are unable to compete with the West—the Jewish conspiracy employs various means to leave them in the dust.

In the Islamic Republic of Iran, this conspiratorial worldview is at the foundation of the Islamic Revolution’s ideology, according to which the Jew has been transformed from an impure and miserable entity to an all-powerful satanic figure that opposes the Islamic world and is at the root of all of the Islamic world’s predicaments. According to the Iranian regime’s ideology, it is necessary to fight the Jews the same way that one fights cancer, and to wipe them and their satanic influence off the face of the earth.

The Protocols have been referred to in schoolbooks, such as the History of the Modern and Contemporary World, Grade 10, which was issued by the Palestinian Authority. The Protocols are also commonly referred to by Islamic clerics and scholars, they appear in media reports, and they have been dramatized in recent years in family-oriented Ramadan TV shows such as al-Shatat and Knight Without a Horse.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.