Zionist Occupation Government conspiracy theory
The Zionist occupation government, Zionist occupational government or Zionist-occupied government (ZOG), sometimes also referred to as the Jewish occupational government (JOG),[1][2] is an antisemitic conspiracy theory claiming Jews secretly control the governments of Western states.[3][4] It is a contemporary variation on the centuries-old belief in an international Jewish conspiracy. According to believers, a secret Zionist organization is actively controlling international banks, and through them governments, in order to collude against white, Christian, or Islamic interests.[5]
"Zionist occupation government" redirects here. For territories occupied by Israel since 1967, see Israeli-occupied territories.
The expression is used by white supremacist, white nationalist, far-right, nativist[6] or antisemitic groups in Europe[7] and the United States,[8][9][10][11][12][13] as well as by ultra-nationalists such as Pamyat in Russia and various far-right groups including the Freemen, Identity Christians and the Ku Klux Klan.[6]
The word Zionist in "Zionist occupation government" should not be confused with the ideology of Zionism, the movement for support of a Jewish state in the Land of Israel. As the conspiracy theorists chiefly name countries outside that area, the usage of Zionist in this context is misleading because it is intended to portray Jews as conspirators who aim to control the world[8] as depicted in the forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion.[14]
Origins
The association of Jews to the control of economic forces is the modern resurgence of an old stereotype, that of the "greedy Jewish merchant" which has been present in the Christian world since the Middle Ages.[5] The conspiracy theory illustrates a specifically American far-right agrarian preoccupation, namely the vital possibility of extinction allegedly faced by the rural world, seen as the backbone of America, a danger caused by a remote, centralized and power-hungry metropolitan elite corrupted by "alien" influences.[15]
Conspiracy theories
A variety of plots gravitating around the original conspiracy theory were imagined by activists, one stating, for instance, that as many as 4,000 Jews were warned of the September 11 attacks before they happened. Believers also claim that ZOG-like forces control American foreign policy. Despite their own singularities, most ZOG theories involve the idea of a Jewish power over the finance or banking, including one imagining a Jewish control on the Federal Reserve.[5]
Neo-Nazi David Lane developed his version of the white genocide conspiracy theory in his c. 1995 White Genocide Manifesto, the origin of the later use of the term.[24][25][26][27] Lane claimed that the government policies of many Western countries had the intent of destroying white European culture and making white people an "extinct species".[28] Lane—a founding member of the organization The Order—criticized miscegenation, abortion, homosexuality, Jewish control of the media, "multi-racial sports," the legal repercussions against those who "resist genocide," and the ZOG that he said controls the United States and the other majority-white countries, which encourages "white genocide".[28]