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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (21767)	3/19/2002 10:57:05 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

The Saudis apologize for the blood libel. Sort of. Saudi newspaper editor 'apologizes' for Purim blood libel By Dan Izenberg and Gil Hoffman JERUSALEM (March 20) - A Saudi Arabian newspaper editor yesterday issued a backhanded apology for a column published last week which resurrected the medieval blood libel against Jews by claiming they use the blood of Christian or Muslim "mature adolescents" to prepare special Purim pastries. Al-Riyadh editor-in-chief Turki al-Sudairi wrote that the article, written by Umayma Ahmed al-Jalahma of King Faisal University, was "not fit to print." The paper had been sharply criticized by the US government before Al-Riyadh published the apology. On Monday, the Voice of America aired an editorial praising Saudi Arabia for its peace initiative, but criticizing it for not doing more to reduce Israel-Arab tensions. "In the meantime," said VOA, "there is something that Saudi Arabia and other countries could do right now to ease tensions in the Middle East. They could stop newspapers and radio and television stations, especially those controlled by the state, from inciting hatred and violence against Jews." Directly referring to the blood libel column, published on March 10, the VOA editorial added: "No one who is not blinded by hate for Jews could ever believe such nonsense." Al-Sudairi wrote: "I checked the article and found it not fit for publication, because it was not based on scientific or historical facts, and it even contradicted the rituals of all the known religions in the world.... The information included in the article was no different from the nonsense always coming out in the yellow literature, whose reliability is questionable. The understanding of the this serious mistake regarding the information escaped Ms. al-Jalahama, as did the understanding that Jews everywhere in the world are one thing, while the Jews belonging to the Zionist movement that wants to annihilate the Palestinians are something else and completely different." In the article, which was translated into English and disseminated by the Middle East Media Research Institute, al-Jalahma wrote: "During the Purim holiday, the Jew must prepare very special pastries, the filling of which is not only costly and rare - it cannot be found at all on the local and international markets. Unfortunately, this filling cannot be left out, or substituted with any alternative serving the same purpose. For this holiday, the Jewish people must obtain human blood so that their clerics can prepare the holiday pastries. In other words, the practice cannot be carried out as required if human blood is not spilled!" The Foreign Ministry called the blood libel "a Nazi-like anti-Semitic rumor, whose only purpose is to incite hatred against Jews and the Jewish people." The ministry noted the apology and expressed the hope such an accusation will never be published again in the Saudi press. "Israel wishes to establish friendly and peaceful relations with its neighboring countries - relations based on friendship and not on racist stereotypes," a ministry spokesman said. Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Melchior, who founded the International Commission for Combating Anti-Semitism, welcomed the apology, but said it is too bad the paper used it to continue attacking Israel. "Anti-Semitism is the most stubborn and ancient hatred in the history of humankind, and it has brought about vicious results," Melchior said. "We are shocked that the new anti-Semitism that originates in the Arab world has revived the abominable blood libels of the past. The lies and incitement in the Arab media undermine attempts for normalization and create an anti-Semitic image that will prevent another generation from living in coexistence in the Middle East." jpost.com