Jerusalem World News

The actions of James Wenneker Von Brunn, 88, a Holocaust denier, avowed white supremacist and rabid anti-Semite, expose the root of the entire war on terror – bigotry.

Von Brunn calmly walked into the Washington Holocaust Memorial on Wednesday and opened fire with a .22 rifle. Although the memorial entrance is equipped with metal detectors, it is thought that Von Brunn started shooting just inside the door. He carried with him a copy of the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. His intent was clearly to kill Jews but he was intercepted by guard Stephen Tyrone Johns. The guard was shot and later died from his wounds. Von Brunn was wounded by other guards who returned fire. He was taken to a local hospital handcuffed to a gurney.

Washington police discovered a notebook in the vehicle believed to be Von Brunn’s. It contained a list of sites in the area that included the White House, the Capitol, the Washington Post, and a Fox News location. An investigation was launched to determine if Von Brunn had been sighted at any of the places named.

In 1983, Von Brunn was sent to prison for four years after he tried to kidnap several members of the Federal Reserve Board. He claimed that although he carried a bag containing a sawed-off shotgun, a revolver and a knife, he was only trying to make a “citizen’s arrest.” Von Brunn was released in 1989.

I know, first hand, how deadly anti-Semitism can be. I was informed by the ATF that I had been targeted by a white supremacist, Richard Wayne Snell, on my birthday in 1984.

Snell was a disciple of The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (better known as the CSA) organized in Elijah, Arkansas in 1971 by polygamist James Ellison. The CSA was not simply one of the more quirky religious cults; its stated purpose was to start a war that would ultimately lead to the second coming of Christ. The members of the group believed they were literally God’s chosen people, and as such, could dominate all others.

 A CSA conference in 1983 brought together Jim Ellison, the group’s founder, and Snell. The two men discussed how they could bring down the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Snell’s destiny, however, was not to be the one to accomplish that feat. His plans were sidetracked by his desire to kill Jews and Blacks.

 On November 3, 1983, Snell gunned down the owner of a small pawn shop in Texarkana, Arkansas. Snell thought he was a Jew; he was not. The case confounded the authorities for over eight months. Snell’s rage would prove to be his downfall. On June 30, 1984, Snell was stopped on a lonely western Arkansas highway by State Trooper Louis Bryant. As Bryant approached the vehicle, Snell opened fire with a modified Colt .45, fatally wounding the trooper.

 A truck driver who saw the shooting followed Snell across the Oklahoma border and contacted the Broken Bow police. Snell ran headlong into a roadblock set up by the police. In the ensuing gun battle, Snell was captured after being wounded.

 Following his arrest, investigators combed through Snell’s vehicle. On the front seat, they found a single piece of paper on which was written my name, address, and unlisted telephone number. I have no doubt that given the chance Snell would have taken me out, along with my family.

 Although Snell went to death row for the murders of Trooper Bryant and the pawn broker in Arkansas, the CSA continued to thrive. Two of its recruits were Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. On April 19, 1995, McVeigh and Nichols set off a devastating explosion that rocked the Murrah Building killing 168 and injuring more than 800. It was the worst domestic terror attack until that fateful day in September 2001.

 Snell was executed on the same day as the devastating attack on the Murrah Building. His last words were directed at Oklahoma Governor Jim Guy Tucker. Snell warned that the governor should “look over your shoulder; justice is coming.”

 Whatever you wish to call it – bigotry, anti-Semitism, Jew-hatred – it is vile. It caused the pogroms in Russia, the Holocaust in Europe, and has stirred up Holocaust deniers such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran, among others.

 Bigotry is an equal opportunity employer. Jew-hating, Protocols of Zion-loving, Holocaust deniers must be taken seriously. The war on terror cannot be won unless America declares war on bigotry.

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Michael D. Evans, is the founder of the Jerusalem Prayer Team and the Corrie ten Boom Holocaust Center in Haarlem, Holland.  He is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, and is the author of Jimmy Carter: The Liberal Left and World Chaos.