Last week, I watched the video of Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan’s address at the 2024 Saviour’s Day in Detroit. Title: “What does Allah the Great Mahdi and the Great Messiah have to say about the War in the Middle East?”
As the title suggests, the speech was largely dedicated to the current Israel-Hamas war or the subject of Israel-Palestine. It was over three hours of deception, manipulation, revisionist history, false prophecy, antisemitism, false biblical teachings (especially on the Torah and the Hebrew prophets) and cheerleading for Hamas to the gleeful applause of the thousands of people in attendance.
Farrakhan’s refrain: “Israel is not going to stay in the Middle East.”
I’ve been observing Louis Farrakhan’s teachings since the early 2000’s. Interestingly, when I saw or heard him speak, it was almost exclusively during a cable broadcast of a Black church service. I remember seeing him stand in the pulpit with the Quran on one side of the podium and the Bible on the other.
Growing up in a Christian home, the Nation of Islam, mainstream Islam or Louis Farrakhan were not topics of discussion, so watching this in my 30’s was a novelty. I was struck by how the pastors and the attendees so readily received Farrakhan’s obvious conflation of Quranic and Biblical theology. Clearly, he was deceiving the people and his reception was cult-like.
It wasn’t until a few years later that I heard Farrakhan’s antisemitic rantings. I’ve since lectured and written extensively about Farrakhan’s Jew-hatred, including in my book Zionism & the Black Church.
Though Farrakhan’s speech provides much to unpack, I will focus on the final five to six minutes. This is how the conclusion begins:
What I gave is prophecy that you can find in the Bible and Quran, that Israel is not gonna stay in the Middle East … and when that war triggers all of the countries that it will trigger, the war of Armageddon will be all over the earth. China will be involved. Russia will be involved. … North Korea will be involved. And there’ll be no hiding place for anyone.
Farrakhan references the international war against Israel (at Armageddon) explained by the prophet Ezekiel and implies that the result of that war will be Israel’s removal. The Bible states the opposite. Let’s be very clear: Farrakhan’s statement is tantamount to calling God a liar.
Shortly after, Farrakhan directly addressed Israeli officials attempting to reach Black American youth.
This [younger generation of Black Americans] refuse to be controlled by the [pro-Israel] forces that controlled their fathers and their grandfathers. That is over! So, I say to Israel, “Leave the Black youth alone! Don’t come into our community trying to kill us to satisfy your blood lust.”
Let’s review. Louis Farrakhan:
- Suggests that Armageddon means the end of Israel.
- Infers that Black Israel supporters (many of whom base their sentiments on the Bible) are controlled by Israel/Jews.
- Warns Israel to “Leave the Black youth alone!” after attempting to indoctrinate Black youth with false prophecies, and
- Claims that Israel is trying to kill Black youth to “satisfy your blood lust”—yet another Jew-hating blood libel.
For over 3,500 years, leaders much more powerful than Minister Louis Farrakhan have declared the end of Israel—that the Jewish homeland would cease to exist. All of those leaders are gone. Israel is still here—and will always be here.
“I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the Lord your God.
(Amos 9.14-15)
Originally published by Africa-Israel Weekly.
