As has several times been the case during our years of research for this book, we felt the ghostly lifting of a veil brush against our faces. Yet this time the revelation of what lay behind the veil was so sinister, so worrying and so misunderstood by so many, that at first we thought it best to let it be, to ignore it, to delete it from our thoughts lest we be branded as ‘conspiracy theorists’.
Only after much consideration have we reached the conclusion that we must bring this strange and frightening issue to attention.
Epilogue
The Master Game
May 14th [1948], David Ben Gurion is creating history. At 4 o'clock this afternoon when he reads these words aloud he will change world politics forever. In this simple text lies a dream of the Jewish People that has endured two thousand years of exile. It is the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel. Yet the nation may not survive the day. All around him powerful forces are working to obstruct or destroy his fledgling nation. In neighbouring Jordan, King Abdullah heads an alliance of five Arab nations to strangle Israel at birth. He [Ben Gurion] is defying the United Nations who have their own plans for the Middle East. Civil war rages across the country. The British Empire which has played peacekeeper for thirty years is leaving. His only hope lies in Washington. With the backing of President Truman, Israel might have a chance to survive.
BBC2, ‘The Birth of Israel, May 14th 1948’, Days that Shook the World
At the center of contemporary Islamism is an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory, the roots of which lead back to Europe at least a century ago. The basic theme (i.e., that the Jews control, or are attempting to control, the world's governments and media, and generally work to promote Zioism, Israel, etc.) is well known, and is often referenced in regard to the statements and actions of Hamas as well as other Islamist organizations. However, that the Jews are linked to the Freemasons (often regarded as a ‘secret society’) in this conspiracy has gone largely unexplored by observers of Islamism.
A. Miller, ‘Freemasonry in the Mind of the Islamist’ 1
Those damned mystics with a private line to God ought to be compelled to disconnect. I cannot see that they have done anything save prevent necessary change.
Harold Laski, 1919
CHAPTER TWENTY
THE DAY THAT SHOOK THE WORLD
In February 1998, almost exactly fifty years after David Ben Gurion read the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel to the Jewish National Council in Tel Aviv, another ‘Declaration’ was read by one Osama Bin Laden: the ‘Declaration Of The World Islamic Front For Jihad Against The Jews And The Crusaders’. Bin Laden called upon all Muslims to wage a ‘Holy War’ against Jews and ‘Crusaders’, i.e. Americans and their allies, ‘until the Aqsa Mosque (in Jerusalem) and the Haram Mosque (in Makkah) are freed from their grip.’
Three years later, on 11 September 2001, Bin Laden's organisation, the dreaded Al Qaeda, masterminded the destruction of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York and severe damage to the Pentagon in Washington, DC by having suicide volunteers hijack four commercial airlines and fly three of them into those buildings. This abominable event has gone down in history as 9/11.
On 20 November 2003 the British consulate and the HSBC bank in Istanbul, Turkey, were destroyed by suicide bombers. A man claiming to be from the Turkish Great Orient Raiders of the Eastern Front (TGOREF) telephoned the semi-official Anatolian News Agency and coldly informed them that the TGOREF and Bin Laden's Al Qaeda group had jointly carried out the attacks. The mysterious voice then added these sinister words: Our attacks against Masonic targets will continue. Muslims are not alone.2
And on 22 January 2003 the controversial north London Muslim spiritual leader, Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri, expressed these strange views to the Independent: I am not saying every American government figure knew about this [September 11th]. But there are a few people [in the US government] who want to trigger a third world war. They are sponsored by the business lobby. Most of them are Freemasons, and they have loyalty to the Zionists.3
On 10 March 2004, BBC News reported that, A suicide attack on a Masonic lodge in the Turkish city of Istanbul has left one person dead and five injured … the highly secretive international society of Masons is seen by radical Islamic groups as a supporter of the policies of Israel and the United States.4
And the Guardian reported on the same day: One of the bombers reportedly chanted ‘God is great’ before detonating his device … [another] assailant, who identified himself as Abdullah Islam, shouted ‘Down with the Israeli lodge’ …5
Accusations
Accusations of Masonic and/or Zionist or Jewish manipulations backed by America are not uncommon in the Arab World. In 1978 the most influential body in promulgating and interpreting Islamic law and ideologies, the Islamic Jurisdictional College (IJC) located at Al-Azhar University, condemned Freemasonry as an evil organization. Seventeen years later the same condemnation of Freemasonry was repeated in Saudi Arabia in the Saudi Gazette of 13 January 1995, ‘The Curse of Freemasonry: In Questions of Faith’, which reprinted the text issued in 1978 by the IJC at its meeting in Makkah. We show here only items 7, 8 and 10 which are self-evident: 7. It [Freemasonry] is a Jewish Organization in its roots. Its secret higher international administrative board are Jews and it promotes Zionist activities.
8. Its primary objectives are the distraction of all religions and it distracts Muslims from Islam.
10. It has branches under different names as a camouflage so people cannot trace its activities, especially if the name of Freemasonry has opposition. These hidden branches are known are Lions, Rotary and others. They have wicked principles that completely contradict the rules of Islam. There is a clear relationship between Freemasonry, Judaism, and International Zionism. It has controlled the activities of high Arab Officials in the Palestinian Problem. It has limited their duties, obligations and activities for the benefit of the Judaism and International Zionism. Given that Freemasonry involves itself in dangerous activities, it is a great hazard, with wicked objectives, the Jurisdictional Synod determines that Freemasonry is a dangerous, destructive organization. Any Muslim who affiliates with it, knowing the truth of its objectives, is an infidel to Islam.6
Such condemnations are now commonplace on the Internet. For example, in a popular website, ‘Islam online’, we also found the following statement regarding Freemasonry and Islam: The Society of Freemasons aims to rebuild the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem after destroying Al-Aqsa Mosque because the Jews allege that the mosque has been built on the site of the destroyed temple. Everything that furthers the interest of the Jews and promotes their position in the world is undertaken by the society. The cover of absolute secrecy and its strict hierarchy enables it to make use of the positions and influence of its non-Jewish members to serve the Jewish cause. We have to understand that many of its members work for the society trusting that they only serve the causes of liberty, equality and justice. They remain unaware that they simply serve the cause of giving the Jews supremacy in world affairs. Islam respects other religions. Freemasonry deceives its members into thinking that they further the cause of a better humanity when they are actually furthering the interests of those who seek to give the Jews supremacy over all peoples of the world. Islam is the final message from Allah to man. It is the religion that supersedes all past divine messages, including Judaism. Freemasonry seeks to destroy Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to rebuild the Temple of Solomon in its place.7
In an article entitled ‘The New Islamic Fascism’ published in November 2001 in the Jerusalem Post, Robert S. Wistrich, professor of modern European and Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, wrote: This Middle Eastern radicalism is a distinctly modern movement, though it also has indigenous Islamic roots. The conspiracy theory at its heart, which links plutocratic capitalism, international freemasonry, Zionism, and Marxist Communism, is almost identical with the mythical structure of Nazi anti-Semitism. For contemporary
jihadists, a ‘Judaized’ America and Israel, together with heretical, secular Muslim regimes are the godless spearhead of these dark occult forces that seek to destroy Islam and undermine the cultural identity of Muslim believers.8
The perception that some Islamic militants have about the imaginary collusion between Freemasonry and Zionism needs to be carefully understood, not least because Islam is insinuating itself more and more deeply into the Western world where Freemasonry is widely practiced, especially in Britain and the US. We have noted how Islamic terrorists broke into a Masonic lodge in Turkey in March 2004 spraying bullets and detonating several bombs. Fortunately the only person to die in the attack was one of the terrorists. The second terrorist, Engin Vural, who survived was eventually tried in a Turkish court in August 2004. Vural confessed that he, as well as many other militants received their training in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and their network had planned more such attacks. On 13 March 2004, Al-Jazeera published an English translation of a statement purported to be from Al Qaeda: Jund al-Quds [Soldiers of Jerusalem] targeted a Jewish Masonic lodge in Istanbul. Three top Masons were killed in the operation, and if it was not for technical failure all the Masons would have been killed. Thanks to God anyway.9
More recently, CNN reported an aborted attack by a Muslim student on a Masonic temple in Atlanta, Georgia.10
The Lie that would not die
Unfortunately in the Muslim world the term Massoony (‘Freemason’) in the Arabic language is often used synonymously with ‘Zionist’ and vilified as one and the same thing. Indeed the term Massoony is also often used as a generic name for a multitude of organizations supposedly secretly colluding or working for the Zionists, the Israelis, the CIA and so forth, and believed to manipulate banks, military institutions, the media, educational bodies, governments and even the United Nations! To be more specific, many Arabs believe that the Muslim World and more specifically the Middle East is threatened by a secretive satanic force masterminded and manipulated by Freemasons and Zionists with the US branded as the ‘Big Satan’ and Israel the ‘Small Satan’.
But where and why did such ideas originate?
The Masonic-Zionist conspiracy theory has its roots in the so-called Protocols of the Elders of Zion. This slim document, first published in Russia in 1903 – 5, purports to unmask a Zionist-cum-Masonic plot to take control of the world, and was used in anti-Semitic propaganda in Russia and later in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and, more recently, among radical Muslims.11 Although long shown to be a hoax,12 the Protocols have nonetheless been widely circulated and believed throughout the Middle East and are now used as a major propaganda tool in the spread of Islamism in the Western world. In 2002 Steven Simon,13 assistant director of the International Institute of Strategic Studies, told the British House of Commons: The texts [the Protocols] that are very influential among al-Qaeda types and recruits to the organization, texts that can be found on the Internet or in broadsheets or in bookstores in the Middle East, already postulate a worldwide infidel conspiracy against Islam. The United States may bear the brunt of responsibility, but it is seen as part of a larger challenge, consisting of, depending on what you read, the UN, the EU, NATO and the Freemasons for that matter. As odd as that sounds, they have a prominent role in much of this conspiracy thinking.14
Although the supposed Masonic-Zionist conspiracy is generally seen in the Islamic world as a secular evil, Freemasons are often associated with the mysterious and satanic figure of the Masih ad-Dajjal (roughly translated as the ‘false prophet’ or ‘false messenger’) who, in Muslim lore, is supposed to appear before the Yawm al-Qiyamah or ‘Day of Judgment’. According to hadith the Dajjal has one eye which, as to be expected, is often linked to the single eye in the pyramid on the US one-dollar bill and, of course, the ‘eye in the triangle’ symbol used extensively in Freemasonry. The Internet is rife with websites that connect Freemasonry with the Dajjal. According to many of these websites, Freemasonry was behind the Gulf War, the invasion of Afghanistan, the Iraq War, the oppression in the Gaza strip and the turmoil in Pakistan.
Experts on anti-terrorism are gradually coming round to realise that there is a growing and dangerous paranoia about Freemasonry in some Islamic quarters that is extremely worrying, not least because it is drummed into the young minds, often even as part of school curricula. For example, in Saudi Arabia a lesson for tenth grade boys on the Zionist Movement included in a schoolbook on Islamic culture is ‘a curious blend of wild conspiracy theories about Masonic lodges, Rotary Clubs, and Lions Clubs with anti-Semitic invective. It asserts that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an authentic document and teaches students that it reveals what Jews really believe.’15
The Semblance of a ‘Masonic-Zionist Conspiracy’
Many US presidents were Freemasons, including George Washington. But more relevant here are those two presidents who are known to have been involved in the creation of the modern state of Israel16 – Franklin D. Roosevelt and, more directly, Harry S. Truman. As we saw in the last chapter, Roosevelt was the 32nd president of the United States as well as a 32nd degree Scottish Rite Mason. Harry Truman was the 33rd president of the United States and a 33rd degree Scottish Rite Mason. It may not be too far-fetched to speculate that the 32nd degree could bear a relevance to Solomon's Temple. As has often been suggested there is, at the very least, a curious similarity with the Cabbalistic Sephirothic Tree of Life formed by the 22 paths plus the 10 ‘emanations’ of Jehovah. Moreover, some Scottish Rite certificates show the location of the issuing lodge by giving the geographical latitude in degrees – and this has been taken to suggest a mystical connection between degrees of latitude and the Masonic ‘degrees’ of initiation. It is perhaps more than a coincidence that the geographical latitude of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem lies just south of the 32nd parallel while the ‘Mother Lodge’ of the Scottish Rite was originally located in the city of Charleston in South Carolina just off the 33rd parallel. The York Rite Freemasons of America run a periodical called Knight Templar, with the seal of the so-called Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the USA.17 The front cover of the August 2010 issue of Knight Templar shows the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, with the Wailing Wall and the Dome of the Rock and an Israeli flag dominating the scene.18
Radical Arabs perceive a conspiracy in all this involving, at the very least, American Freemasons and the World Zionist Organization.19 And the recent discovery of the diaries of former Secretary of the Treasury Hans Morgentau has added fuel to this political fire. The diaries report a meeting between Morgentau and Roosevelt on 3 December 1942 at which President Roosevelt made these extraordinary comments regarding the eventual creation of a Jewish state in Palestine: I actually would put a barbed wire around Palestine, and I would begin to move the Arabs out of Palestine … Each time we move out an Arab we would bring in another Jewish family … 90% of them should be Jews … It would be an independent nation just like any other nation – completely independent. Naturally, if there are 90% Jews, the Jews would dominate the government.20
The letter that stunned the world
During the early hours of 14 May 1948, according to the BBC2 programme cited at the beginning of this chapter, the Zionist leader David Ben Gurion put the finishing touches to the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel which he would soon read. Let us note in passing that the population of Palestine at that time was just over two million souls of whom thirty per cent were Jews, while the remaining majority were mostly Muslims and a small number of Christians. Civil war between Muslims and Jews had broken out, and at first it looked like the Jews would be overwhelmed by an Arab military alliance formed by Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon.
At 4 p.m. Ben Gurion read the Declaration which started with the words: The land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and national identity was formed. Here they achieved independence and created a culture of national and universal significance. Here they wrote and gave the Bible
to the world.21
The Declaration goes on to state that, Accordingly, we, the members of the National Council, representing the Jewish people in Palestine and the Zionist movement of the world, met together in solemn assembly today, the day of the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine, by virtue of the natural and historic right of the Jewish people and of the Resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations. We hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish State in Palestine, to be called ISRAEL … The State of Israel will be open to the immigration of Jews from all countries of their dispersion; will promote the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; will be based on the precepts of liberty, justice and peace taught by the Hebrew Prophets … our call goes out the Jewish people all over the world to rally to our side in the task of immigration and development and to stand by us in the great struggle for the fulfilment of the dream of generations – the redemption of Israel. With trust in Almighty God, we set our hand to this Declaration, at this Session of the Provisional State Council, in the city of Tel Aviv, on this Sabbath eve, the fifth of Iyar, 5708, the fourteenth day of May, 1948.22