Okay Kiddos: Let’s Talk About Blood Libel

spockoandjimjim:

– If you know anything about Jewish history, it’s that no matter where the jews have been, they’ve suffered.

– Lots

-Like literally all our holidays are about suffering

– Blood libel is specifically about accusing Jews of crimes they didn’t commit, as an excuse to make us suffer more. 

         – Specifically, accusing Jews of murdering gentile (often christian) children             for ritual purposes

– The earliest known claim is by Democritus, who alleged that Jews ritually killed greeks.

– The first classic example is by the citizens of Norwich, England, who blamed their local Jewish community for killing a child. A local monk spread the rumor that every year around Easter, Jews would gather to pick a gentile to kill. He also claimed that Jews believed that killing a gentile every year would help them return to their holy land.

– This trope continued in Medieval and Renaissance Europe, with libel inspired pogroms (mass riots to kill jews) often occurring around passover, with people alleging that Jews put gentile blood in their matzoh, which is wholly untrue.

-Blood libel still exists today, both outright, as in the case of a Jordanian Senate member named Sheik Bassam Ammoush accusing "In [the Gaza Strip] we are dealing with the enemies of Allah, who believe that the matzos that they bake on their holidays must be kneaded with blood. When the Jews were in the diaspora, they would murder children in England, in Europe, and in America. They would slaughter them and use their blood to make their matzos… They believe that they are God’s chosen people. They believe that the killing of any human being is a form of worship and a means to draw near their god.“

– But also Blood libel exists in liberal and leftist circles, especially in anti zioinist activism.

– Claiming Gal Godot killed Palestinian children, had notches on her rifle, poisoned wells or anything of that sort is blood libel. Why? Because she didn’t DO any of that. You don’t have to like or approve of her continual support of the IDF (I know I don’t), but it is historically crucial that you critique her with actual facts.