More Anti-Semitism at Occupy Los Angeles

While there have been intense arguments in the media recently about hints of anti-Semitism which have erupted at New York’s Occupy Wall Street protest, very little attention has been paid to similar problems cropping up at other “Occupy” events around the country.

Below you will find some photographs and a video taken at the Occupy Los Angeles encampment which reveal how there is a growing encroachment of anti-Semitic “Jewish bankers” conspiracy theories becoming more and more evident at these events. Obviously not everyone at the “Occupy” protests is an anti-Semite, but the fact that these statements and views fit so neatly into the whole anti-banker milieu, and often go completely unchallenged by fellow protesters, should give everyone cause for concern about where this whole movement is heading.

The first four pictures show the signs close up. The second four pictures show the same signs in context as they appeared at the Occupy Los Angeles protest, to prove beyond any doubt that these are authentic. Below them is a video of an Occupy Los Angeles speaker spinning more conspiracy theories.

All Los Angeles photos and video here were taken by Ringo, and will appear in future reports at Ringo’s Pictures. This is the first time any of them have been shown online.

(Below the Los Angeles images there is a gallery of videos [many already well-known] of anti-Semitic protesters at the New York Occupation, along with transcriptions.)

First, at Occupy Los Angeles:

“End the Fed. Turn off the spigot!!!”, with an illustration showing Stars of David (containing the word “Zion”), missiles, and dollar signs, implying either that Jewish influence in the Federal government is what causes war funding, or that Jews pressure the government to send military aid to Israel, or both.

“Bizarre and incredible as it sounds, humanity has been colonized by a satanic cult called the ILLUMINATI…This cult represents Masonic and Jewish bankers who finagled a monopoly over government credit which allows them to charge interest on funds they create out of nothing. Thus, the people who control our purse strings are conspiring against us…They have orchestrated TWO WORLD WARS and are planning a THIRD.”

This ancient stereotype of the evil and greedy “Jewish bankers” is the precursor to the “greedy Wall Street bankers” so hated by the Occupiers.

“It’s Yom Kippur: Banks should atone!” Hmmmm…why would the banks and bankers engage in a Jewish ritual practice (atonement on Yom Kippur) if they weren’t Jewish? Again, we return to the “Jewish bankers” theme.
UPDATE: Turns out this particular sign is being held by a Jewish protester, so its intent was probably not meant to be anti-Semitic — though it could easily be misinterpreted, and as such was very ill-considered. The sign-holder is in no way visible in the photo, so their gender/age/religion/name was unknown to me. I did not identify the sign-holder in the caption nor depict them in a photo, and out of respect will continue refraining from doing so.

“Humanity vs. the Rothschlds” [sic — he means “Rothschilds.]

In earlier centuries up through WWII, anti-Semitic “Jewish banker” conspiracy theories frequently focused on the Rothschilds, a prominent European Jewish family which owned many financial institutions.

Speaking of the Rothschilds conspiracy theories, and the belief that the Jews “funded WWII,” this video by Ringo of a speaker at the Occupy L.A. protest shows that the anti-Semitism is creeping into standard anti-capitalist speeches:

Occupy L.A. speaker: “How many people know that the wars, in WWII, both sides, were funded by the Rothschilds? Those are the bankers. So banking and war is very intertwined.”

UPDATE: This additional video of an Occupy Los Angeles protester was taken a few days later by Reason TV:

Interviewer: “Name and affiliation?”

Occupy Los Angeles protester: “Patricia McAllister, I’m here representing myself but I do work for the Los Angeles Unified School District. I think that the Zionist Jews who are running these big banks and our Federal Reserve — which is not run by the federal government — they need to be run out of this country.”

And in case anyone wants proof that the top four signs were indeed at the Occupy Los Angeles protest, here are photos of them in context, with the Occupation encampment around them:

Just to be complete, here is a gallery of videos taken at the New York Occupy Wall Street protest.

First up is the now-infamous “Lotion Man,” arguing with a Jewish passerby:

Lotion Man: “I got a job, Mo. I do have a job. You’re a bum, Jew. Man, I’m a Jew. Why are you fighting with us? You got the money, that’s why you’re fighting, you Jewish man. My father worked 40 years, and we have a foreclosed house, my mother’s dead, she had a heart attack from stress. You tell the corporations to stop calling my mother.”

Jewish passerby: “What?”

Lotion Man: “What? [Mocking] Uh? Uh? Duhduhduhduhduh. You can’t even speak English? Are you Israeli? Go back to Israel. Israel. Go back to Shalom Israel. … I have a job. I’m a college graduate. I’m in the Local 1 Plumbers’ Union. Who are you to tell me I need a job? Look at you, you short little man. Go away. I don’t wanna argue. Bye! Keep it moving. Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Wall Street.”

Also note that the person who took the video said (about Lotion Man’s statement that he too is Jewish) “By the way, during the course of his performance, he told me that he was white, Puerto Rican, Jewish, and African-American.”

Next up is a guy who’s been standing at the protest for weeks, holding up blatantly anti-Semitic signs and ranting about Jews, to the consternation of Jews in the vicinity:

“Blame the Jews.”

That’s the message one Wall Street protester was trying to spread in Lower Manhattan to anyone that would listen.

A new video posted to YouTube shows the protester loudly and aggressively proclaiming “the Jews control Wall Street.”

In the nearly 6-minute video, the man is seen standing in Zuccotti Park ranting against Israel and Jews while holding a sign reading “Hitler’s Bankers – Wall St.”

The protestor, who would not give his name to those gathered around him, is also seen arguing with members of the public who took offense to his choice of words.

A number of others also ask the protester if Fox News had paid him to stand and display his sign to which he responded: “[expletive] Fox News, that’s [expletive]. [Expletive] Jew made that up.”

Here’s the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlKiATQIR_4

The Occupiers, completely unable to accept that their arguments have attracted kooks with similar and overlapping beliefs, begin to formulate their own ridiculous conspiracy theory that he is an agent hired by Fox News — as you will see in this transcript, starting at 1:30:

Anti-Semitic Occupy Wall Street protester: “The Jews control Wall Street! These are the Jews! The Jews control Wall Street. Google it! Google Wall Street Jews. Wall Street Jews! Their names are Jewish — do the homework, do the research. The Jews control Wall Street!”

Bystander: “Hey, didn’t I see you getting out of that Fox News truck parked over there by the corner?”

[Later, starting at 3:24]

Blogger: “Tell me something: Know what? People are saying that Fox News gave you $50. Did you get paid $50 to hold that sign?”

Anti-Semitic Occupy Wall Street protester: “Fuck Fox News and that bullshit.”

Blogger: “Did anyone pay you to hold that sign?”

Anti-Semitic Occupy Wall Street protester: “No! A fucking Jew made that up.”

Blogger: “No one paid you to hold that sign?”

Anti-Semitic Occupy Wall Street protester: “No.”

Here’s another video of the same guy, with a transcript starting at 1:14:

Anti-Semitic Occupy Wall Street protester: “Google ‘Jews control Wall Street.’ Google “Jewish billionaires.’ Google ‘Jews and the Federal Reserve Bank.’ The small ethnic Jewish population in the country, they have a firm grip on America’s media, finances, and other areas of production.”

Interviewer: “So what would you say to people who say you’re anti-Semitic or don’t like Jews?”

Anti-Semitic Occupy Wall Street protester: “I would tell them that Jesus in the Gospel according to St. John, Jesus referred to certain elements in the Jewish community as ‘children of the devil,’ Chapter 8 I believe. But, having said that, the fact of the matter is that there is clear, the fingerprints of these Jewish billionaires and hedge fund managers and bankers is clear and convincing.”

Interviewer: “So are you against all Jews, or just…?”

Anti-Semitic Occupy Wall Street protester: “I’m against the Jews who are robbing America, or who are silent about their brethren robbing America. Google ‘Jewish billionaires.’ Half the billionaires in this country are Jewish. Jews represent 2% of the population, but they are that 1% that seems to control America. And you can also Google ‘Jews control America.’ There’s a lot of research that’s been done to prove that there appears to be some kind of ethnic grip on the American economy.”

…etc.

The interviewer wrote an article on The Blaze to accompany these videos, in which he also includes an interview with a “non-leader” of the Occupy Wall Street group saying the the anti-Semite doesn’t represent the rest of the protesters.

Here is yet another video of the same guy, with a transcript starting at 0:33:

Anti-Semitic Occupy Wall Street protester: “I have to say that Jews have usurped the authority of the majority of the people of this country. And they’re doing it in a conspiratorial manner. And everyone is afraid, everyone is shaking in their boots to admit that one ethnic group is dominating America.”

This article in the Chabad Lubavitch Headquarters News discusses how some observant Jews at the New York Occupy Wall Street protest are becoming increasingly upset at the incipient anti-Semitism in the protest messages, and are trying to counter it:

Daniel Sieradski, a new media activist and participant in the protests, says he is reaching out to Jewish participants at the protest.

Sieradski has also found a small, fringe element that has “chosen to co-opt the protests as an opportunity” to spread hatred and anti-Semitic rhetoric, among participants, and hopes to dispel negative Jewish stereotypes and to “fight those using Jew-hatred,” by his presence there.

Leftists at the protest are hyper-senstitive to accusations of anti-Semitism, and have struck back with counterattacks.

This article in New Voices, the National Jewish Student Magazine, downplays the sign-holder as “the entire anti-Semite community of the Occupy Wall Street protest,” claiming there are no other anti-Semites there.

And the left-leaning pro-Occupy PoliticsUSA site published articles entitled Nazi Obsessed Fox News Attacks Occupy Wall Street As Anti-Semitic and A Terrified Rush Limbaugh Mines the Gutter Of Anti-Semitism To Attack the 99% which go to great lengths to dismiss the charges of anti-Semitism.

But with the emergence of the new evidence from Los Angeles presented above, the charges are getting harder to ignore.