Louis Farrakhan Image by Getty Images

Louis Farrakhan claimed last week that he does not hate Jewish people, despite his long history of anti-Semitic language, culminating in being banned from Facebook last month.

Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, was invited to give a speech at a Catholic church in Chicago on Thursday to address his recent removal from the social media platform. He claimed that he “stand[s] on God’s word” and only those who haven’t met him believe he spreads hate speech, Religion News Service reported.

“Social media, you met me tonight,” he told the crowd. “I plead with the rulers, let the truth be taught.”

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He also asserted that he used Facebook with respect, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“I have not said one word of hate. I do not hate Jewish people. Not one that is with me has ever committed a crime against the Jewish people, black people, white people, no matter what your color is. As long as you don’t attack us, we don’t bother you.”

Minutes before, he said that some are angry with him because “he exposed their hatred of Jesus in the Talmud” and said he was “here to separate the good Jews from the satanic Jews.”

Farrakhan was personally invited to St. Sabina Catholic Church by Rev. Michael Pfleger. The Archdiocese of Chicago distanced itself from that decision, saying it wasn’t consulted.

Farrakhan has a decades-long track record of anti-Semitism across a variety of media. In October, Facebook removed a video on Farrakhan’s account that compared Jews to termites, calling it “Tier 1 hate speech.” Twitter didn’t remove the video, but it un-verified his account after he posted a clip titled, “Thoroughly and completely unmasking the Satanic Jew and the Synagogue of Satan.”

Alyssa Fisher is a writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

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