Farrakhan: I Don't Hate Jews, but Some are 'Satanic'

A week after he got booted from Facebook over hate speech, Louis Farrakhan spoke in Chicago to defend his name. "I do not hate Jewish people," said the Nation of Islam leader after accepting a controversial invitation to speak at a Catholic church. "Not one that is with me has ever committed a crime against the Jewish people, black people, white people. As long as you don't attack us, we won't bother you." However, Farrahkan also returned to a familiar theme: "I'm here to separate the good Jews from the Satanic Jews," he said, per the Chicago Sun-Times. He did not elaborate on that. The AP notes that Farrakhan is seen as an extremist by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center for years of comments deemed anti-Semitic, anti-white, and anti-gay.

"I'm not a misogynist, I'm not a homophobe," Farrakhan said. "Don't be angry with me if I stand up on God's word." Farrakhan spoke at Saint Sabina church after being invited by its pastor, the Rev. Michael Pfleger. "This is a free-speech issue," Pfleger tells CNN. "I don't agree with anyone on everything, but we are in a dangerous time when we can no longer have dialogue without demonizing one another." However, the Illinois Holocaust Museum says it is Farrakhan who is doing the demonizing. "When community leaders like Father Pfleger provide a platform for bigotry and anti-Semitism, it increases the threat against all of humanity," says the museum's president. (More Louis Farrakhan stories.)