Anti-Defamation League, September 19, 2006.

Cartoons and editorials published in newspapers in the Arab/Muslim world
falsely portray Jews as the manipulators behind Pope Benedict XVI and his
speech at a German university on the theological need for faith and reason,
according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

“Once again anti-Semitic conspiracy theories are being promoted by the
Arab/Muslim media, this time in the outrageous claims that Pope Benedict XVI
is being manipulated by Jews to attack Islam,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL
National Director. “Objections to the Pope’s comments should be made civilly,
not with violence being perpetrated by Muslims against Christians, and not with
inflammatory cartoons and editorials against Jews.”

Mr. Foxman called on Islamic religious and political leaders of good will to
publicly denounce and reject these false assertions of Jewish control of the
Pope and to reject violence against Christians and Christian institutions as an
unacceptable form of protest.

“Religious leaders have a special responsibility to show their followers
that there are non-violent ways to express their opinions and disagreements,”
he said. The Bahraini newspaper, Akhbar Al-Khalij, has taken the lead in
publishing cartoons claiming Jewish control of the Pope and a Jewish-Christian
conspiracy against Islam.

ADL also found a growing trend in editorials and opinion-pieces in the
Arab/Muslim media that claim the Pope’s statements should not surprise
anyone, since they are the long-lasting natural discourse of international
Zionism against Islam. Some maintain that after September 11 a new Rome was
erected, one that aims at converting Christianity and God to Judaism under the
watchful eyes of the evil American-Israeli alliance that was established by the
international Zionism, which eventually seeks to enflame a full confrontation
between Islam and Christianity.

The Jordanian daily Ar-Rai argued that the only reasonable explanation for the
Pope’s behavior is his German origin; his youth years were under the Nazi
regime and this constitutes both a heavy psychological and cultural burden on
the Pope’s shoulders, given that Germany is still “subjected to political and
cultural extortion” led by the Zionist movement; accordingly it was obvious that
Pope Benedict XVI would adopt pro-Israeli positions and express evil views
regarding the Arabs and the Palestinians.

Such anti-Semitic, anti-Christian conspiracy arguments have appeared in
widespread daily newspapers, including the Egyptian Al-Gomhuriyya, the
Jordanian Ar-Rai and Qatari Al-Watan.