Blood Libels, Nasty Phrases, and Dirty Words: #1 in a Series
It’s time to revisit definitions and descriptions, blood libels, nasty phrases, and dirty words. This is #1 in a series.
Blood libels
According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, a blood libel is “the false and maliciously perpetuated accusation that Jews have murdered non-Jews (such as Christian children) in order to use their blood in rituals.” Blood libels have evolved and now have more contemporary uses. Today, tropes (antisemitic stereotypes and plots) are used metaphorically or expanded on in modern conspiracy theories about Jews. In other words, a blood libel is a damaging slander.
Elements of tropes have evolved into modern online conspiracies accusing Jewish people of awful or absurd actions, or the tropes demonize the State of Israel, ignoring complex circumstances or the actions of Iran, radical Islamists, the Palestinian governing authorities or Palestinian terrorists.
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Blood libels against Jews originated in the Middle Ages. The earliest recorded blood libel occurred in Norwich, England, in 1144, after the mysterious death of a 12-year-old boy, William. The local sheriff did not believe the accusation and protected the Jews.
Four years later, a Benedictine monk, Thomas of Monmouth, wrote a hagiography (a biography of a saint or other religious figure) claiming that William was tortured and crucified by Jews. This marked the first recorded case of a blood libel. These false antisemitic accounts, promoted by the monk, quickly spread across Europe claiming that Jews used blood for religious rituals.
In following years, the falsehood of blood use for religious rituals was frequently used to incite fear about Jews, leading to mob attacks, pogroms, and the mass execution of Jewish communities. The reality was that the original charge was entirely fabricated. It was particularly bizarre because Judaism strictly forbids the consumption of any blood and requires that all blood be drained from meat before it is eaten.
Unfortunately, the lie did not die in the Middle Ages. Blood libels were continually used against Jews throughout the Middle Ages and the Crusades.
In 1255, in Lincoln, England, following the disappearance of an eight-year-old boy, Hugh, the local authorities tortured a Jewish man into a confession; the confession was false. This led to the execution of 18 Jews. Subsequently, the blood libel was popularized in literature. Geoffrey Chaucer’s Prioress’s Tale is one such example.
In 1475, in Trent, Italy, a young boy named Simon went missing. The local church authorities falsely accused the Jewish community of ritual murder. The propaganda spread rapidly via the early printing presses and led to the decimation of the local Jewish population.
Blood libels against the Jews were used throughout the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions. The blood trope transformed during the Spanish Inquisition. Aside from stealing Christian blood, Jews and Conversos (Jews who were forcibly converted to Christianity) supposedly kidnapped children to mock and reenact the crucifixion and the Passion of Christ. The Grand Inquisitor used blood libel accusations to “prove” that conversos were secretly practicing Judaism (Judaizing) and conspiring with practicing Jews to destroy Christianity from within. Thousands of Jews were executed during the Inquisition.
Martin Luther promoted medieval blood libels in his 1543 treatise On the Jews and Their Lies. By repeating the false, antisemitic rumors that Jews ritually murdered Christian children and poisoned wells, Luther elevated these tropes, using them to justify the violent persecution of Jewish communities. In reality, Luther was angry that the Jews didn’t follow him after he broke from the Catholic Church.
In modern times, Nazi propaganda utilized ritual murder imagery to demonize Jews previous to and during the Holocaust. Blood libel even appeared in the United States, most notably during the 1928 Massena riot, more accurately known as the Massena Blood Libel, in upstate New York. A four-year-old girl went missing. The Jews were blamed. People were questioned, beaten, and accused. The next day the girl walked out of the woods unharmed.
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The Series: Next in the series is the first of the blood libels: apartheid. Listed below are words and phrases that will be included. There are, undoubtedly, more words and phrases in each category. Please make additions and suggestions in the comments section.
Blood Libels:
The most common blood libels currently used against Israel and Jews include the following: apartheid, genocide, and settler colonialism. additionally, there are these: famine, baby-killers, open-air prison, ethnic cleansing, occupation, indiscriminate bombing, and more.
Nasty Phrases:
Jews control ______ (fill in the blank ̶ the banks, Hollywood, the media, the world, etc.), From the River to the Sea, Globalize the Intifada, the Great Replacement theory, Free Palestine, Khaybar, Khaybar ya Yahud, and more.
Dirty Words:
The “dirty” words created by Palestinianists and the Left run the gamut from A-Z: AIPAC to Zionist, then Zio and Zionism. The in-between words include: globalist, holohoax, Jewish lobby, Khazars, kike, ZOG, zionazi, and more.
Definitions and Descriptions:
Antisemitism, Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Nakba, Nakba survivor, Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS), Fifth Column, moral inversion, scapegoat, anti-Dreyfasard, and more.
