Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Make a Passover gift and support Jewish journalism. DONATE NOW
Fast Forward

Louis Farrakhan Denies Anti-Semitism at Nation of Islam Convention

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan denied he is anti-Semitic during an address to the group’s annual convention in Detroit.

Farrakhan, who is known for his diatribes against the Jews, compared himself to auto magnate Henry Ford saying that Ford was “a great man who was called an anti-Semite.”

“I feel like I’m in good company,” Farrakhan said during a speech Sunday night to about 18,000 in Joe Louis Arena, the Detroit Free Press reported.

“I don’t hate Jewish people … what I hate is evil,” Farrakhan also said, and added that “Satan is in control of Hollywood,” as well as TV, the media and money.

Farrakhan also reprimanded Muslims for fighting against each other in the Middle East, saying they were killing each other for “America” and the “European infidel.”

He said that if the U.S. launched a war on Iran, “we ain’t fighting. We’re not killing no Muslims for these infidels.”

Farrakhan spoke for nearly three hours, and touched on topics such as for the African-American community separating from the rest of the world in order to better their lives, and reinvesting in Detroit

“Expressing pride for being called anti-Semitic is shameful,” Heidi Budaj, Michigan regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, told the Detroit Free Press. “A person in this day and age should be ashamed to say that.”

This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.

This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.

With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.