US urges Saudis, other Arabs to halt anti-Jewish incitement in media
The United States called on Saudi Arabia and other Arab governments to stop media reports that incite hatred of Jews, urging them to act in the interest of Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Washington said Arab leaders should do more for the ailing peace process than back Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz's proposal which envisions Arab recognition for Israel in exchange for full Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands occupied in the 1967 Middle East War.
In an official US government editorial that began airing Monday on the Voice of America (VOA), the United States said the crown prince's idea called "attention to the need to do everything possible to help end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
"In the meantime, there is something that Saudi Arabia, and other Arab countries, could do right now to ease tensions in the Middle East," the editorial said.
"They could stop newspapers and radio and television stations, especially those controlled by the state, from inciting hatred and violence against Jews."
The editorial said the message was sparked by a March 10 column in Saudi Arabia's Al-Riyadh newspaper in which the author repeated the long-disproved theory that Jews use the blood of Christians and Muslims in pastries they prepare for religious holidays.
"This is, of course, the infamous 'blood libel', a centuries-old anti-Semitic lie that has been used repeatedly to stir hatred against Jews," the editorial said, calling the columnist's accusations "preposterous."
"No one who is not blinded by hate for Jews could ever believe such nonsense," it said, adding that identifying the author as a doctor from a prominent Saudi university "helps to make her lies sound credible."
"Surely, this is not the way to promote peace between Arabs and Jews."
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