Bloody Lies

Though these accusations are beyond preposterous, they have persisted and gained a renewed traction over the last several years, manifesting not merely throughout the Muslim world but in variant forms in Scandinavia and the United States as well. Two notable cases emanate from Lebanon and Miftah, a Palestinian non-governmental organization claiming to support dialogue and democracy.

As reported by MEMRI (the Middle East Media Research Institute), Al Sharq, a Lebanese daily newspaper, published an article to coincide with Pesach this year, resurrecting the age-old blood libel. It accused the Talmud of commanding Jews to use gentile blood as the essential ingredient in making matzah. In addition to the reporter’s investigative work on traditional Jewish recipes, he also allegedly uncovered a Jewish plot to take over the Temple Mount and hold Seder there. No doubt sensitive to the wishes of his readership, the journalist concluded his article by exhorting the Palestinian faithful to “challenge the Zionist aggressors and turn their holiday from one of joy and pleasure at the taste of blood into one of weeping and wailing.” The journalist may not be able to investigate a story properly but he can certainly report recent history, invoking the memory of the Seder massacre at the Park Hotel in Netanya on Pesach 2002, when a Hamas suicide bomber committed the worst single slaughter of Jews during the Second Intifada. Blood (Jewish, that is) mixed in matzah is the Islamist’s recipe.

Though the journalist is clearly a lunatic to be dismissed, no doubt many in the Muslim world believed his rants. When the identical claim of the blood libel is made by an organization headed by Hanan Ashrawi, who is among the most prominent and respected Palestinian leaders and the darling of the Western media, it is much harder to disregard. Ashrawi’s resumé is impressive: she was the official spokeswoman of the Palestinian delegation at the 1991 Peace Conference in Madrid, is a Palestinian legislator and the first woman chosen to the Palestinian National Council; serves on several international and local organizations including the World Bank Middle East and North Africa (MENA), United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) and the International Human Rights Council. She also served two years as minister of higher education in the first Palestinian Authority cabinet and as a spokeswoman for the Arab League. Ashrawi, viewed by the world as a humanitarian and educator, is the most dangerous and insidious propagandist against Israel and Jewish interests. She is a much-sought-after pundit on the Arab-Israeli problem in the international media,  and if you have heard her speak you would think you were listening to the unwelcome third party in the Garden of Eden.

The non-governmental organization she founded in 1998, MIFTAH (the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy), came under intense criticism after an article published on its website stated that Jews in fact do use the blood of gentiles to make matzah. In a testament to the allegedly Palestinian concept of promoting global dialogue and democracy, her organization posted the following to its website:

“Does Obama in fact know the relationship, for example, between Passover and Christian blood..?! Or Passover and Jewish blood rituals..?! Much of the chatter and gossip about historical Jewish blood rituals in Europe are real and not fake as they claim; the Jews used the blood of Christians in the Jewish Passover…”

Ashrawi’s response to the outcry against this posting of the blood libel on her website? Though she is Christian, in a replay of the Muslim victimizer playing the victim she called it a “smear campaign,” adamantly refusing to apologize, initially. Eventually her organization lamely apologized, absolving itself of responsibility, claiming that the post was “accidentally and incorrectly published by a junior staff member. The said staffer has been reprimanded and all our staff has been informed as to the disgusting and repulsive phenomena of blood libel or accusation, including its use against Jews.”

I would love to pose two questions to Ashrawi, despite knowing the answers in advance. The first refers to her use of “including.” Which group besides the Jewish people has ever been accused of blood libel? Answer: No group. The second question: Why did you bother apologizing? Answer: The apology, pried with a crowbar, came apparently to ensure that funding to Miftah from various European governments, the European Union, and America’s own Ford Foundation, among other sources, would not be diminished.

Sweden’s spin on the blood libel sullied its leading newspaper, the Aftonbladet, when in August of 2009 the tabloid claimed that Israel was harvesting internal organs from young, healthy Palestinians. The story spread quickly amongst those anxious to hear the slander. The American version of libeling Jews and Israel is appearing on a billboard near you if you live in the upscale liberal enclaves along the Metro-North line. The billboards defame Israel as an apartheid state and call on the United States to cease all aid to Israel. It seems condemning Israel comes in the color of your choice: red for blood; black/white for apartheid; and green for U.S. financial support. It makes me blue with despair.

Now for an accurate bit of news reporting that debunks most of the above: While Turkey violates human rights by sending Syrian refugees back to the warzone formerly known as Syria, and Jordan receives financial assistance to help with its flood of Syrians, since February, Israel has quietly and with no international fanfare been tending to Syrians wounded from across its northern border. Recently Israel even opened a field hospital near its border with Syria in the Golan Heights region to provide superior and more immediate care to the ever increasing number of wounded. Any blood on Israel’s hands is from tending to the injured, and the real blood libel is denying the truth of the medical and humanitarian aid that Israel has been giving to the Syrian wounded.

This story may not be as headline-grabbing as the matzah “recipes” above, but it’s the truth.

This article appeared in print on page D28 of the April 4th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.