Malcolm X was assassinated in New York on February the 21st 1965. Just prior to his murder he had been sent a series of nine questions about his life, faith, and hope for the future by the Director General of the Islamic Centre of Geneva. Malcolm responded with “incisive and candid written responses” and his answer to the final question posed was typed up on the morning of February 21, 1965, hours before his death.

“It is, to the best of my knowledge, the final document written by Malcolm X;” writes lecturer, Ali Hammoud a doctoral candidate from Western Sydney University, where his ‘research interests are broadly centred around Islamic intellectual history’ and according to Ali, Malcom X had visited Gaza in 1964, a trip that was to inspire his written piece on Zionism and also demonstrated his view that Zionism was not only a threat to Palestine but to the wider Third World,”

Malcolm X

According to the official website of Malcolm X, he was born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. The murder of his father in 1931, followed by the deterioration of his mother’s mental health led Malcolm and his siblings to go into foster care which was to later see him become involved in Boston’s criminal underworld and entrenched in the “Black mecca” lifestyle of New York City’s Harlem. He was eventually arrested and convicted on burglary charges, sentenced to 10 years in prison but paroled after seven years that were utilised in furthering his education. (source)

Malcolm X had become intrigued in a religious organisation “the Nation of Islam (NOI)” where the leader of the organisation Elijah Muhammad taught him that white society actively worked to keep African-Americans from empowering themselves and achieving political, economic and social success.

When paroled in 1952, Malcolm ditched the subanem “Little” considering it a slave name and chose  to use his new surname “X” instead to signify his lost tribal name and due to his intelligence the articulate Malcolm X was appointed minister and national spokesman for the NOI and utilised newspaper columns, radio and television to communicate the NOIs message across the United States. (source)

Malcolm X was to find himself surrounded by crowds and controversy, at a time where racial tensions ran increasingly high he became a media magnet and also featured in a week-long television special in 1959, called The Hate That Hate Produced . By now he had also captured the government’s attention, subsequently, FBI agents infiltrated the organisation (one even acted as Malcolm’s bodyguard) and secretly placed bugs, wiretaps, cameras and other surveillance equipment to monitor the group’s activities. (source)

A pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia proved life altering for him as for the first time, Malcolm shared his thoughts and beliefs with different cultures, and found the response to be overwhelmingly positive.  On his return he said he had met “blonde-haired, blued-eyed men I could call my brothers.” He returned to the United States with a new outlook on integration and a new hope for the future. This time when Malcolm spoke, instead of just preaching to African-Americans, he had a message for all races.

Undercover FBI informants working in the NOI warned officials that Malcolm had been marked for assassination and  according to his biography, one undercover officer had even been ordered to help plant a bomb in Malcolm’s car. Due to repeated attempts on his life, he rarely traveled anywhere without bodyguards. (source)

On February 14, 1965, the home where Malcolm, wife Betty and their four daughters lived in East Elmhurst, New York was firebombed. Luckily, the family escaped physical injury., that time, but only one week later, his enemies attempts to kill him were successful when at an engagement in the Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom on February 21, 1965 three gunmen rushed Malcolm onstage shooting him 15 times at close range.

H was pronounced dead on arrival at New York’s Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. Assassinated at only 39 years old. (source)

Neither Malcom X’s autobiography, or esteemed biographies written about him have mentioned that his last written words were on the subject of Zionism, according to Ali Hammoud. His article on the subject follows below.

Malcolm X’s final written words were about Zionism. Here is what he said.

by Ali Hammoud

For Malcolm X, Zionism was inextricably linked to wider European colonialism. In a little known passage written just before his assassination, he made it clear he saw Zionism as not just a threat to Palestine, but to the entire Third World.

The ongoing genocide in Gaza, coupled with the recent martyrdom anniversary of Malcolm X, has sparked interest in what the renowned activist thought and wrote about Palestine. But a reader of The Autobiography of Malcolm X would learn little; indeed, there is no mention of Malcolm’s 1964 trip to Gaza, or of his scathing article titled, “Zionist Logic.”

Even acclaimed biographies of Malcolm X, such as Les Payne’s The Dead Are Arising and Manning Marable’s A Life of Reinvention, either ignore or brush over the details of Malcolm’s visit and writings on Palestine. Marable goes as far as to claim that Malcolm’s perspective on Palestine was merely political opportunism; a stunt aimed at garnering the support of Egyptian president Jamal Abdul Nasser. It is the dismissal and neglect of this crucial part of Malcolm’s life that blunts both his burgeoning internationalist perspective and the threat he perceived of Zionism to not only Palestine but the entire Third World.

On September 5, 1964, Malcolm X traveled to Gaza — then under the control of Egypt — where he spent two days. He visited the Khan Younis refugee camp and a local hospital and mingled with locals and luminaries alike. Amongst these interactions in Gaza, perhaps the most influential was his unplanned encounter with the renowned Palestinian poet Harun Hashim Rashid. Malcolm was visibly moved by the latter’s horrific experience and recounting of the Suez Crisis nearly a decade earlier, in which hundreds of Palestinians were murdered by the IDF. Moreover, Malcolm’s diary notes indicate his admiration for Rashid’s poetry, as he hastily scribbled one of his poems titled “We Must Return:”

We must return
No boundaries should exist
No obstacles can stop us
Cry out refugees: “We shall return”
Tell the Mts: “We shall return”
Tell the alley: “We shall return”
We are going back to our youth 

Palestine calls us to arm ourselves
And we are armed and are going to fight 

We must return

After his meeting with Rashid, Malcolm met with religious leaders and prayed the congregational night prayer. He noted in his diary that the “spirit of Allah was strong” in Gaza.

The visit to Gaza inspired Malcolm’s most famous written piece on Zionism. Published in The Egyptian Gazette on September 17, 1964, “Zionist Logic” mounted a scathing critique of Zionism and demonstrated Malcolm’s view that it was not only a threat to Palestine but to the wider Third World. In his essay, he writes:

“The Israeli Zionists are convinced they have successfully camouflaged their new kind of colonialism. Their colonialism appears to be more “benevolent,” more “philanthropic,” a system with which they rule simply by getting their potential victims to accept their friendly offers of economic “aid,” and other tempting gifts, that they dangle in front of the newly-independent African nations, whose economies are experiencing great difficulties…Thus, the power and influence of Zionist Israel in many of the newly “independent” African nations has fast-become even more unshakeable than that of the 18th century European colonialists…and this new kind of Zionist colonialism differs only in form and method, but never in motive or objective.“

Here, Malcolm draws parallels with European colonialism and the destruction that it wrought across the Third World in the preceding centuries. For Malcolm, Zionism is inextricably linked to wider European colonialism; the latest iteration designed to subdue the Third World. To confront this wider colonial endeavor, Malcolm beseeches the leaders and people of the Third World to unite together and reject the false overtures of colonial powers.

What I have written above has received some degree of public coverage, but there is a crucial document found in the appendix of The Dead Are Arising that has yet to receive the attention it deserves. The Director General of the Islamic Centre of Geneva had sent Malcolm X nine questions about his life, faith, and hope for the future, to which Malcolm wrote incisive and candid responses. The answer to the final question was typed up on the morning of February 21, 1965. It is, to the best of my knowledge, the final document written by Malcolm X and testifies to his burgeoning internationalist perspective and the threat of Zionism — not only to Palestine but to the entire Third World. It is reproduced here below:

Question: Africa seems to have captured most of your attention and eager concern. Why? And now that you have visited almost every part of it, where do you think Islam actually stands? And what, in your opinion, could be done to save it from both the brainlessness of many or rather most of those who are considered to be the champions of its cause and from the malicious, resourceful alliance of Zionism, atheism and religious fanaticism against Islam?

Answer: I regard Africa as my Fatherland. I am primarily interested in seeing it become completely free of outside political and economic influence that has dominated and exploited it. Africa, because of its strategic position, faces a real crisis. The colonial vultures have no intention of giving it up without a fight. Their chief weapon is still “divide and conquer.” In East Africa there is a strong anti-Asian feeling being nurished [sic] among the Africans. In West Africa there is a strong anti-Arab feeling. Where there are Arabs or Asians there is a strong anti-Muslim feeling. These hostilities are not initiated by the above-mentioned people who are involved. They have nothing to benefit from fighting among themselves at this point. Those who benefit most are the former colonial masters who have now supplanted the hated colonialism and imperialism with Zionism. The Zionists have outstripped all other interest-groups in the present struggle for our Mother Continent. They use such a benevolent, philanthropic approach that it is quite difficult for their victims to see through their schemes. Zionism is even more dangerous than communism because it is made more acceptable and is thus more destructively effective.

Since the Arab image is almost inseparable from the Image of Islam, the Arab World has a multiple responsibility that it must live up to. Since Islam is a religion of Brotherhood and Unity those who take the lead in expounding this religion are duty-bound to set the highest example of the Brotherhood and Unity. It is imperative that Cairo and Mecca (The Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs and the Muslim World League) have a religious “summit” conference and show a greater degree of concern and responsibility for the present plight of the Muslim World or other forces will rise up in this present generation of young forward-thinking Muslims and the “Power Centres” will be taken from the hands of those that they are now in and placed elsewhere. ALLAH CAN EASILY DO THIS.

Hours after typing this response, Malcolm X was assassinated at the Audobon Ballroom in New York. He was 39 years old.

You can read the essay Zionis Logic by Malcolm X below.

Zionist Logic

By Malcolm X

The Zionist armies that now occupy Palestine claim their ancient Jewish prophets predicted that in the “last days of this world” their own God would raise them up a “messiah” who would lead them to their promised land, and they would set up their own “divine” government in this newly-gained land, this “divine” government would enable them to “rule all other nations with a rod of iron.”

If the Israeli Zionists believe their present occupation of Arab Palestine is the fulfillment of predictions made by their Jewish prophets, then they also religiously believe that Israel must fulfill its “divine” mission to rule all other nations with a rod of irons, which only means a different form of iron-like rule, more firmly entrenched even, than that of the former European Colonial Powers.

These Israeli Zionists religiously believe their Jewish God has chosen them to replace the outdated European colonialism with a new form of colonialism, so well disguised that it will enable them to deceive the African masses into submitting willingly to their “divine” authority and guidance, without the African masses being aware that they are still colonized.

Camouflage

The Israeli Zionists are convinced they have successfully camouflaged their new kind of colonialism. Their colonialism appears to be more “benevolent,” more “philanthropic,” a system with which they rule simply by getting their potential victims to accept their friendly offers of economic “aid,” and other tempting gifts, that they dangle in front of the newly-independent African nations, whose economies are experiencing great difficulties. During the 19th century, when the masses here in Africa were largely illiterate it was easy for European imperialists to rule them with “force and fear,” but in this present era of enlightenment the African masses are awakening, and it is impossible to hold them in check now with the antiquated methods of the 19th century.

The imperialists, therefore, have been compelled to devise new methods. Since they can no longer force or frighten the masses into submission, they must devise modern methods that will enable them to maneuver the African masses into willing submission.

The modern 20th century weapon of neo-imperialism is “dollarism.” The Zionists have mastered the science of dollarism: the ability to come posing as a friend and benefactor, bearing gifts and all other forms of economic aid and offers of technical assistance. Thus, the power and influence of Zionist Israel in many of the newly “independent” African nations has fast-become even more unshakeable than that of the 18th century European colonialists…and this new kind of Zionist colonialism differs only in form and method, but never in motive or objective.

At the close of the 19th century when European imperialists wisely foresaw that the awakening masses of Africa would not submit to their old method of ruling through force and fears, these ever-scheming imperialists had to create a “new weapon,” and to find a “new base” for that weapon.

Dollarism

The number one weapon of 20th century imperialism is Zionist dollarism, and one of the main bases for this weapon is Zionist Israel. The ever-scheming European imperialists wisely placed Israel where she could geographically divide the Arab world, infiltrate and sow the seed of dissension among African leaders and also divide the Africans against the Asians.

Zionist Israel’s occupation of Arab Palestine has forced the Arab world to waste billions of precious dollars on armaments, making it impossible for these newly independent Arab nations to concentrate on strengthening the economies of their countries and elevate the living standard of their people.

And the continued low standard of living in the Arab world has been skillfully used by the Zionist propagandists to make it appear to the Africans that the Arab leaders are not intellectually or technically qualified to lift the living standard of their people…thus, indirectly inducing Africans to turn away from the Arabs and towards the Israelis for teachers and technical assistance.

“They cripple the bird’s wing, and then condemn it for not flying as fast as they.”

The imperialists always make themselves look good, but it is only because they are competing against economically crippled newly independent countries whose economies are actually crippled by the Zionist-capitalist conspiracy. They can’t stand against fair competition, thus they dread Gamal Abdul Nasser’s call for African-Arab Unity under Socialism.

Messiah?

If the “religious” claim of the Zionists is true that they were to be led to the promised land by their messiah, and Israel’s present occupation of Arab Palestine is the fulfillment of that prophesy: where is their messiah whom their prophets said would get the credit for leading them there? It was [United Nations mediator] Ralph Bunche who “negotiated” the Zionists into possession of Occupied Palestine! Is Ralph Bunche the messiah of Zionism? If Ralph Bunche is not their messiah, and their messiah has not yet come, then what are they doing in Palestine ahead of their messiah?

Did the Zionists have the legal or moral right to invade Arab Palestine, uproot its Arab citizens from their homes and seize all Arab property for themselves just based on the “religious” claim that their forefathers lived there thousands of years ago? Only a thousand years ago the Moors lived in Spain. Would this give the Moors of today the legal and moral right to invade the Iberian Peninsula, drive out its Spanish citizens, and then set up a new Moroccan nation…where Spain used to be, as the European Zionists have done to our Arab brothers and sisters in Palestine?

In short the Zionist argument to justify Israel’s present occupation of Arab Palestine has no intelligent or legal basis in history…not even in their own religion. Where is their Messiah?

———————————————————————-

—The Egyptian Gazette, Sept. 17, 1964 (Source)

Sources:

Ali Hammoud @ https://substack.com/@alihammoud7

The Official Website of Malcolm X @ https://www.malcolmx.com/

Mondoweiss @ https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/malcolm-xs-final-written-words-were-about-zionism-here-is-what-he-said/

Socialist Viepoint – Egyptian Gazzette @ https://www./histormayjun_05/mayjun_05_21.htm

Ali Hammoud7 PhD candidate, part-time lecturer/tutor. Writing featured in: Sydney Review of Books, The Guardian, The Conversation, Mondoweiss. See also Was Bimbi The Main Inspiration For Malcolm X?