Former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke Supports Occupy Wall Street Movement

By Erick Hamme October 27, 2011

(CNSNews.com) -- David Duke, a former grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, has joined President Barack Obama, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in expressing support for the Occupy Wall Street movement, whose protests have been marked by anti-Semitism.

In a video about the Occupy Wall Street protests, Duke said: “I cheer the men and women on the streets condemning the international banks that hold America financially hostage. These Wall Street banks are not the product of free enterprise; they are the product of crime.”

“Yes, occupy Wall Street,” Duke also said. “Finally, Americans are rising up and it feels great.” In the video, Duke repeatedly attacks what he refers to as “Zionist bankers” such as Ben “Shalom” Bernanke.

At one point Duke claims that while many Americans have lost up to 50 percent of their savings, the “Zionist owners of the predatory banks made more shekels.”

Besides Dukeʼs endorsement of the Occupy Wall Street protests, there have been numerous instances of anti-Semitic comments and signs at the demonstrations. Several videos now posted on YouTube show protesters holding anti-Semitic signs and making anti-Semitic statements.

Commentary magazineʼs Abe Greenwald wrote on Oct. 11, “The Jew-hatred among protesters and sympathizers is diverse and unapologetic. It is, in fact, atmospheric. Tune in randomly to live television coverage of the spectacle and youʼll see--as I did--placards scapegoating Israel, Zionism, or ʻHitlerʼs bankers.ʼ”

Greenwald goes on to say no one should be surprised that Occupy Wall Street (OWS) contains an anti- Semitic element because both OWS and hateful, anti-Jewish philosophies employ “the pointing finger” as their method.

Media Research Center President Brent Bozell has condemned the anti-Semitism evident at many of the Occupy Wall Street protests and has called upon the presidents of ABC News, CBS News, CNN, and NBC News to start reporting the racism clearly evident at the demonstrations.

CNSNews.com is a division of the Media Research Center.

In one video, cited by Bozell, an OWS protester says, "The Jews commit more white collar crime than any other ethnic group on earth, and they go unprosecuted because they can buy their way out of it. ... Whenever there's a billion dollar fraud, there's a Jew involved."

On Wednesday, Jewish leaders joined with Bozell in denouncing the anti-Semitism at many of the Occupy Wall Street events and also called upon the network news shows and CNN, all of which broadcast to more than 40 million Americans combined every day, to report on the racism at the demonstrations.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin, with the American Alliance of Jews and Christians, said: "To paraphrase John Keats, all you need to know about the Occupy Wall Street crowd is that truth usually goes with beauty. Self-obsessed dilettantes who foist their feces and filth on a downtown park are probably not speaking the truth. Todayʼs cultural conflict is not between Jews and Christians, blacks and whites, or even rich and poor. It is between those who struggle to sustain civilization and those who wish to obliterate it. Anti-Semitism, excremental assault, abolition of commercial creativity and the glorification of depravity are all variations of the attack against civilization.”

Don Feder, head of Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation, said: “The Left has a long history of anti-Semitism going back to Karl Marx. In that context, the anti-Semitism of some OWS protestors and organizations isnʼt surprising. What also isnʼt surprising, but is disturbing, is the mainstream mediaʼs refusal to report this. Unsubstantiated allegations of racism on the part of certain Tea Party protestors which later proved to be unfounded was the subject of intense media scrutiny. Real palpable, verifiable anti-Semitism on the part of OWS protestors the media has no interest in covering.”

In a press release on Wednesday, Bozell said: “Neither Jews nor Christians, nor any person of faith should stand for the deliberate whitewash of anti-Semitism at these protests, especially not by the same newsrooms that were eager to link supposed racism to the Tea Party. We will not stop applying pressure to these networks until they stop concealing the hatred and report the reality of Occupy Wall Street.”

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