'Zionism not Judaism'

The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. in his speech at the National Press Club today answered questions at the end and one of his answers has been getting a lot of attention.\ \ \ Mr. Wright was asked about his association with the Minister Louis Farrakhan's. Mr. Wright said that Mr. Farrakhan is a powerful voice in the black community and that he has been treated unfairly by the media.\ \ \ "Minister Farrakhan said that Zionism not Judaism was a gutter religion, by the way," Mr. Wright said.\ \ \ A lot of people have asked whether Wright was correct so I decided to ask Jerry Seper, our esteemed Justice reporter and 30-year veteran journalist who spoke to Mr. Farrakhan about this in 1990, and here is what he sent. This doesn't clear up the Zionism vs. Judaism quandary, but it does give a clearer understanding of his point of view.\ \ \ Seper: "Brian: This came up during a Feb. 28, 1990, luncheon meeting with editors and reporters at TWT. I wrote:"\ \ \

Mr. Farrakhan was critical of the media in its reporting of his remarks, saying, for example, that he was misquoted upon his return from the Middle East when he was reported to have called Judaism a "gutter religion."\ \ \ "I said that the state of Israel has not had peace and will not have peace because there can be no peace structured on injustice, lying, thievery, murder and using God's name as a shield for your dirty religion," Mr. Farrakhan said yesterday.\ \ \ "But don't call me anti-Semitic, as though I have some plan in my heart to kill Jewish babies and put them in ovens like Hitler did," he said. "Not only have Jews practiced unclean religion, but [so have] Moslems and Christians."

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