Last evening I was present at a reception in honor of Judge Hadassa Ben-Itto, author of The Lie That Wouldn’t Die: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. I must confess, that I have always dismissed the “Protocols” as another crackpot theory- the notion of Jews secretly meeting to plot the takeover of the world seemed more comedic than menacing.

In fact, as Judge Ben Itto detailed last night, in the best presentation I have ever witnessed, the 24 Protocols, hatched a century ago have become a virtual handbook for all the major campaigns against the Jewish people. Each group has incorporated its own introduction and preface, each designed to libel the Jews and foment anti-Semitism. Judge Ben Itto detailed them, including the shocking revelation that the “Protocols” even found their way into the United States Congress in 1963.

Hadassa Ben Itto traveled throughout the world researching and documenting, finding witnesses and archives- sometimes frustrating and often revelatory. Her remarkable undertaking has become one of the most important books on the subject of anti-Semitism.

If you “google” the Protocols, you will be shocked to see how it is still promoted, sometimes with the most anemic caveats that it might not “all” be true. Even the secessionist Aztlan movement in California has it listed on their site.

This incredible book is actually thrilling to read. All the words that spring to mind to describe it sound like clichés. Because of some arcane publishing law, Hadassa Ben Itto’s book, published in nine languages, is available in English only through a British publishing firm that has no circulation presence in this country.

I urge you to buy it, read it, recommend it to your friends, libraries and book clubs.

Beware: Once you start it you cannot put it down, as I learned last night when I opened the first page at 10:00 P.M.

I attended the same reception and I second Ruth's judgment of both the lecture and the book. Also see, Yossi Puder's write up about her in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin.