Paula R. Stern
August 2009
Sometimes, there is an anger that
consumes. It burns from an outrage and an impotence that is so strong it
threatens to cripple the soul and the tongue. You wonder how anyone could be so
incredibly stupid as to believe the lies; you fight the desire to surrender in
the face of such ignorance and absurdity.
And then, when you are nearing
the height of your despair, you find the strength to rally one more time and beg
the world to just think, just consider, just put two and two together and once,
just once, actually come up with four and not some random number. There really
are times when the absurd really is absurd, the lie really just another attempt
to blur the truth. It really is that simple.
The first recorded case in
which Jews were accused of sacrificing human victims appears in the writings of
Apio in the 1st century. He was an ancient Greek, who claimed that Jews were
sacrificing Greek victims in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Absurd then, absurd
now - and yet, it was believed.
The next documented case appears more
than a thousand years later when
a 12-year old Christian boy named
William was murdered and his mutilated body was found. According to one witness,
he was last seen alive entering the house of a Jewish family and thus the entire
Jewish community of Norwich was declared guilty.
Jews were accused of
murdering and crucifying the boy. The only evidence came from a servant who
claimed to have "with one eye only, caught sight through a crack in a door of a
boy fastened to a post." This vision was seen as she was "bringing some hot
water at her master's order." Absurd then, absurd now - and yet believed enough
to justify murder, pillage, ruin.
The death of William stirred up pogroms
and eventually led to the massacre of large numbers of Jews in Norwich and
elsewhere, culminating in the expulsion of Jews from England for 400 years. I
doubt William's blood was ever avenged, his real murderers brought to justice,
but the child was given sainthood; the Jews falsely accused of his death
received no justice either.
Blood libels against Jews became more common
after William's death and stretched through the centuries. Despite great
inventions and modernization, man's basic capacity to hate never really
diminished. Even in the 20th century, in Russia and in post-World War II Poland,
there were accusations that Jews murdered Christians in order to harvest their
blood for some sacrilegious reason. Never mind what Jewish law prescribes, never
mind the facts. It was a blood libel built on hatred and it has thrived among
the ignorant and the so-called enlightened equally.
A more recent, high
profile claim occurred in December 1984, when the Saudi Arabian delegate
(President of the World Muslim Congress at the time) Dr.Ma'ruf al-Dawalibi ,
spoke before the United Nations Human Rights Commission Conference on Religious
Tolerance (and isn't that a joke by itself?) . The "esteemd" gentleman from
Saudi Arabia explained anti-Semitism through the centuries because, to quote
"Dr." al-Dawalibi, "But why? Let them answer this question themselves. The
Talmud says that any Jew who does not drink every year the blood of a non-Jew
will be damned forever."
Of course, the Talmud doesn't say that and of
course, al-Dawalibi couldn't prove that it does...but that isn't the point of a
blood libel. The damage is done merely in the stating of the lie.
And so
it continues...today...yes, that's right - 2009, Sweden.
Just a few days
ago, a prominent Swedish newspaper,
Aftonbladet (which claims to be
Sweden's largest newspaper with 1.5 million readers), perpetrated the latest
blood libel. Aftronbladet publishing a
story that claims the Israeli army kidnaps and kills Palestinians in order to
harvest their organs. The Swedish story claims to be based on "Palestinian
sources" and I would laugh if I weren't so outraged; I would surrender to
despair if I wasn't so infuriated.
There is no evidence, no proof - in an
article the paper later claimed was an "opinion" piece. Certainly, we can all
agree it was not journalism.
I want to rage and call them idiots; I want
to laugh at their incredible stupidity. But most of all is the sick feeling that
settles deep inside as the government of Sweden responds. They refuse to condemn
this blood libel - merely suggesting the newspaper was practicing "freedom of
speech" which is, the Swedish are quick to remind us, important in their
"democracy." This is, of course, the same Swedish government that shut down
Internet servers of those who had published the Danish cartoons interpreted by
some as anti-Muslim.
Interestingly enough, the Swedish government ignores
the fact that we too have a democracy, but even here, there are things that are
not allowed to be said, lies not permitted to be published. We do not allow
Holocaust denial - that is a crime in other democracies as well because it is
recognized that in denying truth and perpetrating lies, danger and hatred is
promoted.
You cannot, according to US law, rise up and scream "Fire" in a
crowded theater, and you cannot slander and libel the innocent
withoutrepercussions. What I want is for all of Israel's soldiers to sue the
Swedish paper in a class action suit for libel.
What I want, is to
believe this is an isolated incident of idiocy and yet I can't.
According to Barry Rubin, director of the Global Research in International
Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International
Affairs (MERIA) Journal
, Die Telegraaf, Holland's largest newspaper,
has just published an interview with a woman who claims that swine flue and
other diseases are created by a Jewish conspiracy in order to kill large numbers
of people. Absurd then, absurd now, and yet people believe.
And Radio
Sweden is apparently as credible as
Aftonbladet, airing a program that once again
claims Israel killed Mohammed Al-Dura - the 11-year-old child in Gaza whose
death was widely claimed to have been caused in the midst of a gunfight between
Palestinian and Israelis. Of course, independent agencies, including German and
other studies have proven this story false, but that won't stop Radio
Sweden...and there again is the anger, bitter enough to taste. How stupid these
people? How ignorant, how wrong.
And slowly comes the truth - they hate
us. It is as simple and as clear as that. They don't like Jews in Sweden, do
they? No, we aren't the "poor Palestinians", the underdogs, the supposed victims
in their beautiful blue eyes. The truth is there for all to see - they are as
filled with hatred as the people of Norwich in the late 12th century, as
backwards, as ignorant.
Jewish law is very clear, I want to tell thes
stupid people. Jews are not allowed to consume blood. Read the manual...it is
there, so clear. That same IDF now accused of such atrocities, has traveled the
world to save others time and time again. We were among the first to reach
earthquake victims in Turkey, tsunami victims in Indonesia. We dug in the rubble
of Kenya to pull out victims when Islamic terrorists collapsed buildings.
Israeli soldiers do not murder people for their organs, you stupid,
stupid Swedes. And the greatest shame, beyond the printing of the article, is
that 1.5 million subscribers of the newspaper didn't go to the offices of
Aftonbladet and dump the paper on the curb
outside their offices.
If today,
Aftonbladet still has 1.5 million people
buying their newspaper, all of Sweden should be
ashamed.
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