The Franklin Prophecy is a forged anti-Semitic document falsely attributed to Benjamin Franklin.
The document, which fraudulently claims to be a transcript of a speech by Benjamin Franklin, calls Jews a "menace" and "envisions" a future in which the Jews dominate and eventually destroy American society.
The article first appeared in the pro-Nazi magazine Liberation in 1934. The magazine was published by a notorious anti-Semite and Nazi sympathizer known as William Dudley Pelley. Due to his active role in distributing pro-Nazi propoganda, Pelley was imprisioned for 15 months during World War II.
According to Pelley, the speech was transcribed in a private journal by American statesman Charles Cotesworth Pinckery in 1787. Pelley went on to claim that that he had in his possession a copy of the journal, which he used to print The Franklin Prophecy. However, Pelley has never shown any evidence of his dubious claim.
The article was quickly rejected by historians and scholars. It is well documented that Benjamin Franklin had a good relationship with the Jewish American community and gave financial assistance to the building of Philadelphia's first synagogue.
Despite it being a fraudulent text, The Franklin Prophecy has become a popular piece of propaganda in the Arab world. It has been published and used as a "factual source" in a variety of Arab and Muslim newspapers.
The article is still widely circulated around anti-Semitic websites, such as Jewwatch and Radio Islam.
