[ad_1]
- A Capitol Police officer appeared to have a copy of the Zion elders’ protocols at a checkpoint.
- A worried congressional aide took a photo and the officer is under investigation.
- The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a centuries-old anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.
- See more stories on the Insider business page.
A Capitol Police officer was suspended Monday after a member of Capitol Hill staff photographed a printed copy of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion at a security checkpoint inside Congress, according to the Washington Post .
A congressional aide spotted the infamous anti-Semitic conspiracy theory on the desk near a checkpoint, photographed the document, and shared it with The Post. The checkpoint was near a 24-hour entrance to the Longworth House office building.
Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman told the Post the officer concerned has been suspended pending an investigation.
“We take all allegations of inappropriate behavior seriously,” Pittman said. “Once this matter was brought to my attention, I immediately ordered the suspension of the agent until the Professional Liability Office could conduct a full investigation.”
The House staff member who shared the photo requested anonymity from The Post for fear of reprisal and said they were “extremely shaken” to discover the document in the open.
According to the report, a date stamp on the document indicated that it had been printed in January 2019.
The staff member told the Post that following the January 6 uprising, where rioters were photographed carrying and holding anti-Semitic images, they felt compelled to report what they saw.
In February, Capitol Police announced they were investigating 35 police officers for insurgency-related actions, and six were suspended.
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a centuries-old conspiracy theory targeting Jews born in Imperial Russia and purports to detail a reunion of almighty former Jews who create a plan for world control.
The text, while fraudulent, was a centerpiece of anti-Semitic ideology in Nazi Germany and has been steadily advanced by white supremacist groups in the United States since the 1920s, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
According to The Post, the Zion Elders Capitol police officer’s copy appears to be from a far-right, anti-Semitic Australian website called the Bible Believers Church.
[ad_2]
Source link