PMW Bulletin
Oct. 19, 2014
PA goes back to the Middle Ages for blood libels

PA TV: Israel poisoned the Palestinian water wells

PA daily: Jews use blood of Palestinian children in matzah-bread

PA daily: Protocols of the Elders of Zion - authentic Jewish book
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=12893

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Two of the most destructive Antisemitic blood libels of the Middle Ages have
been brought back to life by the Palestinian Authority to promote hatred of
Israelis. In July, the official PA daily wrote that Jews use the blood of
Palestinian children as the ingredient in Matzah - unleavened bread - for
the holiday of Passover, as reported by Palestinian Media Watch.

Last month, official PA TV revived another medieval libel reporting as news
that Israel was intentionally "injecting poison" into Palestinian water
sources as a "war strategy" during the recent Gaza war:

Official PA TV newsreader: "Water experts have warned of the consequences of
the attack by the occupation [Israel] on water wells, as a result of its use
of poisonous bombs that threaten public health..."

Official PA TV reporter: "The policy of attacking water wells is a war
strategy used by the occupation in its aggression against Gaza. Not only
were the people deprived of water, but poison was also injected into main
[water] sources, destroying agriculture." [Official PA TV, Sept. 24, 2014]


Click to view
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=912&fld_id=912&doc_id=12853

Both these libels were used to promote hatred in the Middle Ages and led to
the murder of thousands of Jews. The non-Jewish populations felt that
slaughtering Jews was justified because they believed that Jews were an
imminent threat poisoning wells and killing non-Jewish children.


In July, Mahmoud Abbas' official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, wrote that
Jews offer their God "sacrifices during Passover in the form of Matzah -
unleavened bread - made from the blood of our children." This libel from the
Middle Ages was used by the writer Yahya Rabah, who writes regularly for the
official PA daily and is a member of the Fatah Leadership Committee in Gaza,
as justification for aiming rockets at Israeli civilians during the recent
Gaza war:

"We have nothing with which to speak to these Israeli murderers, who go too
far with their crimes, and whose God, 'Yahweh', is called the Lord of Hosts
and demands, according to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, that they
offer him sacrifices during Passover in the form of Matzah made from the
blood of our children. We have nothing with which to open a dialogue but
these rockets." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 12, 2014]

Yet a third classic Antisemitic libel was presented in Abbas' paper as
"proof" of the Jews using blood for Matzah, namely that this practice is
mentioned in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The Protocols were written
by the Russian secret police in order to promote hatred of Jews and
presented in 1903 as an authentic Jewish document detailing an alleged
Jewish plan to subjugate the world. This libel was promoted successfully by
many, including Hitler, prior to World War II.

The PA as policy demonizes Jews and Israelis, and Palestinian Media Watch
has shown that it regularly presents The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as
an authentic Jewish work.

In addition to the classic blood libels, PMW has documented a range of
original PA libels disseminated by PA officials and official media that
serve to demonize Jews and Israelis and disseminate hatred.

© Palestinian Media Watch, 1996-2014. Writings, translations, and videos may
be used, provided that clear attribution is given to Palestinian Media
Watch.