Roger L. Simon takes Eugene Volokh to task for uncritically reporting the evasions and lies of UC Berkeley instructor Abbas Kadhim, who by his own admission taught the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in an Arabic language class. Professor Volokh wrote to Abbas Kadhim to ask for his side of the story, and here’s the email he received from Kadhim:

Dear Professor Volokh,

Thank you for your e-mail. I am encouraged that there are people who still check the facts before riding a wave.

The reference to the Protocols was not part of the core of the class material. It came about as a result of an un-invited monologue by Ms. Klein, as I was explaining the social of the “Iraqi oaths” for students. I was merely telling the students about the Iraqi conventional wisdom, as opposed to the other side.

As you know, this issue of authenticity and the identity of the author — or authors — of the Protocols has not been settled between the Middle Eastern disputants (that is to say, no one said to the other, “you are right.”).

The noise between Egypt and Israel about the TV show (A Knight without a Horse) recently is only one good example. The show presented the conventional wisdom which I mentioned. It was not endorsed by the government of Egypt, but by many Arab intellectuals and the masses.

I am not in the business of endorsing one view over the other, at least in that debate that happened in the class.

Being misunderstood is a frequent risk all of us, teachers, have to run. It is interesting however, that in a small room, only one student heard one thing and all other students heard another!!!

And after this outrageous attempt to legitimize the Protocols, an evil forgery that was used by Hitler in Mein Kampf to demonize Jews and pave the way for the Third Reich’s “Final Solution,” Professor Volokh says:

Who’s right and who’s wrong about what was said, and how it was meant and understood by most students? I don’t know, but I thought I’d present both sides’ statements.

“Both sides’ statements?” Kadhim admits openly in his email to Dr. Volokh that he did talk about the Protocols; not only that, he admits that he did not tell the truth. The Protocols are indisputably a forgery. There is no debate about this among honest people; it was proven long ago. Yes, the Arab world continues to propagate this despicable hate literature, but to call it “conventional wisdom” and imply that it may be legitimate is the worst sort of multicultural nonsense, and incredibly dishonest.

Kadhim is also lying when he says that the Egyptian TV show based on the Protocols was “not endorsed by the government of Egypt.” All media in Egypt is vetted by government censors. If the Egyptians had any objection to the showing of A Knight Without a Horse it would not have been broadcast. The fact is that official Egyptian media is among the most antisemitic in the region—and that’s saying a lot.

This case is extremely disturbing, because it shows beyond a doubt that the poisonous hatred and antisemitism of the Arab world is being spread to the universities of America. I strongly suspect that the large endowments of money from Saudi Arabia to US Middle East studies programs are helping to fuel this.

I’m very disappointed with Professor Volokh, whose opinions are normally well-reasoned, for letting the dishonesty and antisemitism of Abbas Kadhim simply stand without judgment; it verges on tacit agreement that the legitimacy of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion may be open to discussion.

UC Berkeley must launch an investigation of this matter, similar to the investigation launched by Oxford when a professor refused the application of a doctoral candidate simply because he was Israeli. This incident is, in my opinion, much more serious than even the Oxford incident. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is no small matter—it’s a diabolical piece of antisemitic propaganda that played a major role in the deaths of millions of people, and it should never be promoted as anything other than an evil forgery.