The Speech I'd Like to Hear

25 January 2011

Alan Grayson, Reader Supported News

President Obama is delivering his State of the Union message. 

This is the speech that I would like to hear:

"My fellow Americans.  Two years ago, 69 million of us voted for me to be our President.  It was the largest vote for President that any person has ever received.  But, I understand that you did not support me merely because I have an unusual name.  Especially the middle one.  No, you supported me because I promised the change we need.

"We have been through two hard years, with many people losing their jobs, and many people losing their homes.  You know that I did nothing to cause these problems, and I tried hard to solve them.  Although our accomplishments have been substantial, an intransigent Republican minority in the Senate has blocked much of my legislative program.

"But a President is more than a legislative program.  Although my title is 'President,' you did not elect me to preside.  You elected me to lead.

"We are at a fork in the road.  The Republican House Leadership demonstrated last week that its highest legislative priority is to prevent 30 million Americans from seeing a doctor when they are sick.  We can let Republican control of the House of Representatives doom us to no progress, no change, for the next two years.  Or, I can exercise my powers under the Constitution and our laws to deliver the change we need.

"I choose the latter.  As for the Republican leaders, they can lead, follow, or just get out of the way.

"These are the things that I will do now, to give us the good government that we Americans deserve, and the change we need:

"First, to give the economy an immediate boost, I will direct the executive agencies to accelerate the obligation of federal contracts and grants, rather than waiting until the end of the fiscal year.

"Second, I will recognize the obvious, declare China a 'currency manipulator,' and end the forced currency union with China that we never asked for and we don't want, which has cost us 5 million manufacturing jobs in the last decade.  I will institute 'anti-dumping' actions to protect American jobs.

"Third, I will direct Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the FHA and the VA to include in every home loan that they issue or finance a provision that requires mandatory mediation, at the bank's expense, before foreclosure.  Families who are in danger of losing their homes deserve at least that much.

"Fourth, I will direct both the Financial Stability Oversight Council and the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department to break up any financial institution that is considered 'too big to fail.’  Too big to fail should mean too big to exist.  There will be no more bailouts, no more Wall Street welfare.

"Fifth, I will ask the FBI to investigate and DOJ to prosecute anyone who committed criminal misconduct in connection with the collapse of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, Bear Stearns, Countrywide, Merrill Lynch, and all the rest.  I will ask the SEC to bar such people from publicly traded companies and the capital markets.  In the 18 months before I took office, twenty percent of our national wealth was wiped out, and no one has been punished for that.  If we leave the same people doing the same things, then those same disasters may well happen again.  We can't take that chance.

"Sixth, because corporate income tax revenues have dropped by half in the past decade, while Big Business is enjoying record profits, I will ask the IRS to audit every one of the Fortune 500.  This will ensure that they are paying the taxes that are due, rather than evading taxes through transfer pricing and offshore tax havens.  And I will ask FASB and the SEC to mandate that public companies keep one set of books, rather than one set for investors and a different one for the IRS.

"Seventh, I will direct the EPA to exercise its authority to treat carbon dioxide as a pollutant.  I expect to be able to reduce our emissions and pollution as much as other countries do.  If they can do it, then so can we.

"Eighth, I will ask the SEC to direct that shareholders in public companies must authorize all campaign expenditures in advance, and that public companies disclose all such expenditures within 48 hours.  We cannot allow trillion-dollar multinational companies to dictate the outcome of our elections secretly.  We have to keep sewer money out of politics.

"Ninth, I ask the NLRB to take all available steps to ensure that the right of employees to organize, which is rooted in the Constitution's 'freedom of association,' be defended - including the promulgation of 'card check' by regulation under the National Labor Relations Act.

"Finally, as Commander in Chief, I will bring all of our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan by the end of this year, if not sooner.  After a decade of war, it's time for peace.

"Many of you heard me for the first time six years ago, when I said that I believe not in a Blue America or a Red America, but rather, I believe in America.  I still do.  Americans deserve a good government, which delivers public services effectively and economically.  America also deserves leadership that recognizes our problems, attacks them, and solves them.  That's the change we need, and the change we deserve.  I won't settle for less."

Why Health Care Reform Will Not Be Repealed

House Republicans will vote today to repeal the Obama administration’s health care reform bill approved and adopted as law in March of last year.  They will be successful in the House and they will be unsuccessful in the Senate. 

The Republicans know they will lose.  They are planning to use the defeat to rally the Tea Partiers and conservatives to undertake a two year campaign that they hope will do enough damage to the President that it will give whoever they put up against him in 2012 a chance of winning.

Between now and the Presidential election of 2012, the Republicans will use every tool a majority Party has available to chip away at the law.  Newly appointed Republican Committee Chairs are lining up to grab an administration official and grill him or her to prove that the law it is what they have claimed it to be – “socialized medicine.”

Unfortunately, the Health care law is not “socialized medicine.”  If it were, the medical establishment, pharmasuical industry, health insurance industry, and others would all be out of work, as the government would be performing the services these industries currently dispense at a very hefty profit.

While casting about for the votes necessary to get his health care legislation approved last year, the President allowed it to be watered down so much that the best way to decribe what was eventually adopted is a change in health insurance.  The key provisions in the law decrease barriers for obtaining health coverage, as well as accessing needed health care services.  The law bars health plans from:

·      Denying coverage to those with pre-existing medical conditions

·      Dropping the coverage of people who become sick

·      Charging higher premiums because of health issues

Under the way things currently “work,” those of us who have health insurance and pay our premiums end up paying higher premiums if someone in our healthcare plan fails to pay their premiums.  In addition, if those who are uninsured – generally those with low or no incomes and illegal immigrants – remain uninsured, we taxpayers are required to pick up the tab when they require medical care. 

The provision of the health care law that has the Republicans apoplectic is the requirement that after the legislation is fully implemented in 2014, all Americans will be required to have health insurance through their employer, through a public program such as Medicaid or Medicare, or by purchasing coverage from a state-based health insurance exchange.

For those who have health insurance, depending on the type of coverage, there are multiple options with the implementation of the law.  If an individual’s health coverage is through an employer plan, some options include:

·      Stay in your employer plan: If your employer continues to offer health insurance, you can keep it.

·      Shop for a health plan through the health insurance exchange in your state: If you own a small business, or your employer offers only minimal benefits, or you must pay more than 9.5% of your income in premiums, you can look for better options in the exchange.

·      Participate in long-term care insurance: A new payroll deduction at work will allow you to qualify for long-term care benefits after a five-year waiting period.  The program is voluntary.

If a person’s source of health insurance is an individual policy that was purchased for themselves and/or their families, these are your options:

·      Keep your current plan: If your health plan continues to offer the same coverage, you can renew it.  However, new health insurance policies must comply with federal minimum coverage standards; older health plans that don't meet these standards cannot enroll new customers.

·      Shop for coverage through the insurance exchange in your state: If your income is below $43,320, you may qualify for federal tax credits to help offset the cost of your premium.

The Republicans claim to be concerned about the provision in the law that requires those who do not obtain health insurance to pay a penalty, unless they qualify for certain exemptions. However, depending on income, family size, and state of residence, there will be several health coverage options, including financial subsidies if health insurance is unaffordable.

Middle class individuals and families who are not considered “poor” but that have difficulty making ends meet will be eligible to buy a subsidized health plan through a state-based health insurance exchange starting in 2014.  Annual incomes of those eligible are up to $43,320 for an individual and up to $88,200 for a family of four.

Health plans that participate in an exchange must offer a package of "essential" benefits that covers at least 60% of health care expenses.

If health insurance is purchased from an exchange, an individual’s share of the premium may not exceed a certain percent of his or her income, ranging from 2% to 9.5% depending on how much they make each year.

Small employers that provide health insurance coverage will receive tax credits.  The new credit helps small businesses and small tax-exempt organizations afford the cost of covering their employees.  It is intended for those with low- and moderate-income workers.  The credit is designed to encourage small employers to offer health insurance coverage for the first time or maintain coverage they already have. In general, the credit is available to small employers that pay at least half the cost of single coverage for their employees.

Before the Republicans begin to complain about the harm the heath insurance reform legislation will do to “small businesses,” there is a provision in the law that identifies what a small business is and what is required of it:

·      Assesses employers with more than 50 employees that do not offer coverage and have at least one full- time employee who receives a premium tax credit a fee of $2,000 per full-time employee, excluding the first 30 employees from the assessment.

·      Employers with more than 50 employees that offer coverage but have at least one full-time employee receiving a premium tax credit will pay the lesser of $3,000 for each employee receiving a premium credit or $2,000 for each full-time employee. (Effective January 1, 2014)

·      Exempts employers with 50 or fewer employees from any of the above penalties.

·      Requires employers that offer coverage to their employees to provide a free choice voucher to employees with incomes less than 400% FPL whose share of the premium exceeds 8% but is less than 9.8% of their income and who choose to enroll in a plan in the Exchange. The voucher amount is equal to what the employer would have paid to provide coverage to the employee under the employer’s plan and will be used to offset the premium costs for the plan in which the employee is enrolled. Employers providing free choice vouchers will not be subject to penalties for employees that receive premium credits in the Exchange. (Effective January 1, 2014)

·      Employers with more than 200 employees must automatically enroll employees into health insurance plans offered by the employer.  Employees may opt out of coverage.

Medicare

Payments to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans will be restructured by setting payments to different percentages of Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) rates, with higher payments for areas with low FFS rates and lower payments (95% of FFS) for areas with high FFS rates. There will be a phase-in of revised payments over 3 years beginning in 2011, for plans in most areas, with payments phased-in over longer periods (4 years and 6 years) for plans in other areas. Bonused will be provided to plans receiving 4 or more stars, based on the current 5-star quality rating system for Medicare Advantage plans, beginning in 2012 and qualifying plans in qualifying areas receive double bonuses.

The new law modifies the rebate system with rebates allocated based on a plan’s quality rating.  Adjustments to plan payments for coding practices related to the health status of enrollees will be phased in, with adjustments equaling 5.7% by 2019.

There will be a cap on total payments, including bonuses, at current payment levels. Medicare Advantage plans will be requitred to remit partial payments to the Secretary if the plan has a medical loss ratio of less than 85%, beginning 2014. Plan enrollment will be suspended for 3 years if the medical loss ratio is less than 85% for 2 consecutive years and to terminate the plan contract if the medical loss ratio is less than 85% for 5 consecutive years.

Annual market basket updates for inpatient hospital, home health, skilled nursing facility, hospice and other Medicare providers will be reduced and adjusted for productivity. The threshold for income-related Medicare Part B premiums for 2011 through 2019 will be frozen, and the Medicare Part D premium subsidy for those with incomes above $85,000/individual and $170,000/ couple will be reduced. (Effective January 1, 2011)

Prescription Drugs

The Food and Drug Administration is authorized to approve generic versions of biologic drugs and grant biologics manufacturers 12 years of exclusive use before generics can be developed.

Heath Insurance Companies

There are other provisions to the health Care Law, but a telling development augers well for the Obama administration.  The entire health insurance industry opposed the Health Care Law before it was approved. In fact, many opposed it before they even knew what it would do.  The talking pints they used were that it would impose onerous new regulations and reforms that would kill their business and make health care unsustainable.  However, many, especially those in the health insurance industry, have realized that the health care reform law will help them and other big stakeholders.  The law, they have observed, will not disrupt the health industry.  In fact, it is likely to bring insurers new business.

So far, the major elements of health reform that were opposed on principle —including the individual mandate and insurance exchanges — have been working well for all involved. In fact, there is every reason to believe that that other components will be phased in as planned, with little disruption and certainly without ruining health care or the industries that opposed the legislation initially.

Perhaps that is why the Republicans have yet to offer up an alternative to what they are so eager to tear down.

President Obama's Tucson Speech

“To the families of those we've lost; to all who called them friends; to the students of this university, the public servants gathered tonight, and the people of Tucson and Arizona: I have come here tonight as an American who, like all Americans, kneels to pray with you today, and will stand by you tomorrow.

There is nothing I can say that will fill the sudden hole torn in your hearts.  But know this: the hopes of a nation are here tonight. We mourn with you for the fallen.  We join you in your grief.  And, we add our faith to yours that Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the other living victims of this tragedy pull through.

As Scripture tells us:

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her, she will not fall;

God will help her at break of day.

On Saturday morning, Gabby, her staff, and many of her constituents gathered outside a supermarket to exercise their right to peaceful assembly and free speech.  They were fulfilling a central tenet of the democracy envisioned by our founders - representatives of the people answering to their constituents, so as to carry their concerns to our nation's capital.  Gabby called it "Congress on Your Corner" - just an updated version of government of and by and for the people.

That is the quintessentially American scene that was shattered by a gunman's bullets. And the six people who lost their lives on Saturday - they too represented what is best in America.

Judge John Roll served our legal system for nearly 40 years.  A graduate of this university and its law school, Judge Roll was recommended for the federal bench by John McCain twenty years ago, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, and rose to become Arizona's chief federal judge.  His colleagues described him as the hardest-working judge within the Ninth Circuit.  He was on his way back from attending Mass, as he did every day, when he decided to stop by and say “hi” to his Representative.  John is survived by his loving wife, Maureen, his three sons, and his five grandchildren.

George and Dorothy Morris - "Dot" to her friends - were high school sweethearts who got married and had two daughters.  They did everything together, traveling the open road in their RV, enjoying what their friends called a 50-year honeymoon.  Saturday morning, they went by the Safeway to hear what their Congresswoman had to say. When gunfire rang out, George, a former Marine, instinctively tried to shield his wife.  Both were shot.  Dot passed away.

A New Jersey native, Phyllis Schneck retired to Tucson to beat the snow.  But in the summer, she would return East, where her world revolved around her 3 children, 7 grandchildren, and 2 year-old great-granddaughter. A gifted quilter, she'd often work under her favorite tree, or sometimes sew aprons with the logos of the Jets and the Giants to give out at the church where she volunteered.  A Republican, she took a liking to Gabby, and wanted to get to know her better.

Dorwan and Mavy Stoddard grew up in Tucson together - about seventy years ago.  They moved apart and started their own respective families, but after both were widowed, they found their way back here, to, as one of Mavy's daughters put it, "be boyfriend and girlfriend again."  When they weren't out on the road in their motor home, you could find them just up the road, helping folks in need at the Mountain Avenue Church of Christ. A retired construction worker, Dorwan spent his spare time fixing up the church along with their dog, Tux.  His final act of selflessness was to dive on top of his wife, sacrificing his life for hers.

Everything Gabe Zimmerman did, he did with passion - but his true passion was people.  As Gabby's outreach director, he made the cares of thousands of her constituents his own, seeing to it that seniors got the Medicare benefits they had earned, that veterans got the medals and care they deserved, that government was working for ordinary folks.  He died doing what he loved - talking with people and seeing how he could help.  Gabe is survived by his parents, Ross and Emily, his brother, Ben, and his fiancée, Kelly, who he planned to marry next year.

And then there is nine year-old Christina Taylor Green. Christina was an A student, a dancer, a gymnast, and a swimmer.  She often proclaimed that she wanted to be the first woman to play in the major leagues, and as the only girl on her Little League team, no one put it past her.  She showed an appreciation for life uncommon for a girl her age, and would remind her mother, "We are so blessed.  We have the best life."  And she'd pay those blessings back by participating in a charity that helped children who were less fortunate.

Our hearts are broken by their sudden passing. Our hearts are broken - and yet, our hearts also have reason for fullness.

Our hearts are full of hope and thanks for the 13 Americans who survived the shooting, including the congresswoman many of them went to see on Saturday.  I have just come from the University Medical Center, just a mile from here, where our friend Gabby courageously fights to recover even as we speak.  And I can tell you this - she knows we're here and she knows we love her and she knows that we will be rooting for her throughout what will be a difficult journey.

And our hearts are full of gratitude for those who saved others.  We are grateful for Daniel Hernandez, a volunteer in Gabby's office who ran through the chaos to minister to his boss, tending to her wounds to keep her alive.  We are grateful for the men who tackled the gunman as he stopped to reload.  We are grateful for a petite 61 year-old, Patricia Maisch, who wrestled away the killer's ammunition, undoubtedly saving some lives.  And we are grateful for the doctors and nurses and emergency medics who worked wonders to heal those who'd been hurt.

These men and women remind us that heroism is found not only on the fields of battle. They remind us that heroism does not require special training or physical strength.  Heroism is here, all around us, in the hearts of so many of our fellow citizens, just waiting to be summoned - as it was on Saturday morning.

Their actions, their selflessness, also pose a challenge to each of us.  It raises the question of what, beyond the prayers and expressions of concern, is required of us going forward.  How can we honor the fallen?  How can we be true to their memory?

You see, when a tragedy like this strikes, it is part of our nature to demand explanations - to try to impose some order on the chaos, and make sense out of that which seems senseless. Already we've seen a national conversation commence, not only about the motivations behind these killings, but about everything from the merits of gun safety laws to the adequacy of our mental health systems.  Much of this process, of debating what might be done to prevent such tragedies in the future, is an essential ingredient in our exercise of self-government.

But at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized - at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do - it's important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.

Scripture tells us that there is evil in the world, and that terrible things happen for reasons that defy human understanding.  In the words of Job, "when I looked for light, then came darkness."  Bad things happen, and we must guard against simple explanations in the aftermath.

For the truth is that none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack.  None of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped those shots from being fired, or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man's mind.

So yes, we must examine all the facts behind this tragedy.  We cannot and will not be passive in the face of such violence.  We should be willing to challenge old assumptions in order to lessen the prospects of violence in the future.

But what we can't do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another.  As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility.  Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together.

After all, that's what most of us do when we lose someone in our family - especially if the loss is unexpected.  We're shaken from our routines, and forced to look inward.  We reflect on the past.  Did we spend enough time with an aging parent, we wonder.  Did we express our gratitude for all the sacrifices they made for us?  Did we tell a spouse just how desperately we loved them, not just once in awhile but every single day?

So sudden loss causes us to look backward - but it also forces us to look forward, to reflect on the present and the future, on the manner in which we live our lives and nurture our relationships with those who are still with us.  We may ask ourselves if we've shown enough kindness and generosity and compassion to the people in our lives.  Perhaps we question whether we are doing right by our children, or our community, and whether our priorities are in order.  We recognize our own mortality, and are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame - but rather, how well we have loved, and what small part we have played in bettering the lives of others.

That process of reflection, of making sure we align our values with our actions - that, I believe, is what a tragedy like this requires.  For those who were harmed, those who were killed - they are part of our family, an American family 300 million strong.  We may not have known them personally, but we surely see ourselves in them.  In George and Dot, in Dorwan and Mavy, we sense the abiding love we have for our own husbands, our own wives, our own life partners.  Phyllis - she's our mom or grandma; Gabe our brother or son.  In Judge Roll, we recognize not only a man who prized his family and doing his job well, but also a man who embodied America's fidelity to the law.  In Gabby, we see a reflection of our public spiritedness, that desire to participate in that sometimes frustrating, sometimes contentious, but always necessary and never-ending process to form a more perfect union.

And in Christina...in Christina we see all of our children.  So curious, so trusting, so energetic and full of magic.

So deserving of our love.

And so deserving of our good example.  If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate, as it should, let's make sure it's worthy of those we have lost.  Let's make sure it's not on the usual plane of politics and point scoring and pettiness that drifts away with the next news cycle.

The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better in our private lives - to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents.  And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let's remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud.  It should be because we want to live up to the example of public servants like John Roll and Gabby Giffords, who knew first and foremost that we are all Americans, and that we can question each other's ideas without questioning each other's love of country, and that our task, working together, is to constantly widen the circle of our concern so that we bequeath the American dream to future generations.

I believe we can be better.  Those who died here, those who saved lives here - they help me believe.  We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us.  I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us.

That's what I believe, in part because that's what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed.  Imagine: here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation's future.  She had been elected to her student council; she saw public service as something exciting, something hopeful.  She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model.  She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.

I want us to live up to her expectations.  I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it.  All of us - we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations.

Christina was given to us on September 11th, 2001, one of 50 babies born that day to be pictured in a book called "Faces of Hope."  On either side of her photo in that book were simple wishes for a child's life.  "I hope you help those in need," read one.  "I hope you know all of the words to the National Anthem and sing it with your hand over your heart.  I hope you jump in rain puddles."

If there are rain puddles in heaven, Christina is jumping in them today.  And here on Earth, we place our hands over our hearts, and commit ourselves as Americans to forging a country that is forever worthy of her gentle, happy spirit.

May God bless and keep those we've lost in restful and eternal peace.  May He love and watch over the survivors.  And may He bless the United States of America.”

Hey, Sarah Palin! Here Is What "Blood libel" Actually Means.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Blood libel

Blood libel (also blood accusation [1][2]) refers to a false accusation or claim [3][4][5] that religious minorities, in European contexts almost always Jews, (like Representative Giffords, perhaps?) murder children to use their blood in certain aspects of their religious rituals and holidays.[1][2][6] Historically, these claims have–alongside those of well poisoning and host desecration–been a major theme in European persecution of Jews.[4]

The libels typically allege that Jews require human blood for the baking of matzos for Passover.  The accusations often assert that the blood of Christian children is especially coveted, and historically blood libel claims have often been made to account for otherwise unexplained deaths of children.  In some cases, the alleged victim of human sacrifice has become venerated as a martyr, a holy figure around whom a martyr cult might arise.  A few of these have been even canonized as saints, like Gavriil Belostoksky.

In Jewish lore, blood libels were the impetus for the creation in the 16th century of the Golem of Prague by Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel.  Many popes have either directly or indirectly condemned the blood accusation, and no pope has ever sanctioned it. [7] These libels have persisted among some segments of Christians to the present time.

Descriptions of alleged ritual murder

In general, the libel alleged something like this: a child, normally a boy who had not yet reached puberty, was kidnapped or sometimes bought and taken to a hidden place (the house of a prominent member of the Jewish community, a synagogue, a cellar, etc.) where he would be kept hidden until the time of his death.  Preparations for the sacrifice included the gathering of attendees from near and far and constructing or readying the instruments of torture and execution.  ^{[Citation needed]}

At the time of the sacrifice (usually night), the crowd would gather at the place of execution (in some accounts the synagogue itself) and engage in a mock tribunal to try the child.  The boy would be presented to the tribunal naked and tied (sometimes gagged) at the judge's order.  He would eventually be condemned to death.  Many forms of torture would be inflicted during the boy's "trial," including some of those actually used by the Inquisition on suspects of heresy.  Some of the alleged tortures were mutilation (including circumcision), piercing with needles, punching, slapping, strangulation, strappado and whipping, while being insulted and mocked throughout.  ^{[Citation needed]}

In the end, the half-dead boy would be crowned with thorns and tied or nailed to a wooden cross.  The cross would be raised and the blood dripping from the boy's wounds, particularly those on his hands, feet, and genitals, would be caught in bowls or glasses.  Finally, the boy would be killed with a thrust through the heart from a spear, sword, or dagger.  His dead body would be removed from the cross and concealed or disposed of, but in some instances rituals of black magic would be performed on it.  The earlier stories describe only the torture and agony of the victim and suggest that the child's death was the sole purpose of the ritual.  Over time and as the libel proliferated, the focus shifted to the supposed need to collect the victim's blood for mystical purposes.  ^{[Citation needed]}

The story of William of Norwich (d. 1144) is the first case of alleged ritual murder that led to widespread persecutions.  It does not mention the collection of William's blood nor of any ritual purpose to the alleged ritual murder.  In the story of Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (d. 1255), it was said that after the boy was dead, his body was removed from the cross and laid on a table.  His belly was cut open and his entrails removed for some occult purpose, such as a divination ritual.  In the story of Simon of Trent (d. 1475) it was highly stressed how the boy was held over a large bowl so all his blood could be collected.  ^{[Citation needed]}

According to Walter Laqueur,

"Altogether, there have been about 150 recorded cases of blood libel (not to mention thousands of rumors) that resulted in the arrest and killing of Jews throughout history, most of them in the Middle Ages...  In almost every case, Jews were murdered, sometimes by a mob, sometimes following torture and a trial.”  [8]

[edit]

Actual Jewish practices regarding blood and sacrifice

The descriptions of torture and human sacrifice in the anti-Semitic blood libels run contrary to many of the teachings of Judaism.  The Ten Commandments in the Torah forbid murder.  In addition, the use of blood (human or otherwise) in cooking is prohibited by the kosher dietary laws.  Blood from slaughtered animals may not be consumed, and must be drained out of the animal and covered with earth (Lev 17:12-13).  According to the book of Leviticus, blood from sacrificed animals may only be placed on the altar of the Great Temple in Jerusalem (which no longer existed at the time of the Christian blood libels).  Furthermore, consumption of human flesh violates kashrut.  ^{[Citation needed]}

While animal sacrifice was part of the practice of ancient Judaism, the Tanakh (Old Testament) and Jewish teaching portray human sacrifice as one of the evils that separated the pagans of Canaan from the Hebrews (Deut 12:31, 2 Kings 16:3). Jews were prohibited from engaging in these rituals and were punished for doing so (Ex 34:15, Lev 20:2, Deut 18:12, Jer 7:31).  In fact, ritual cleanliness for priests prohibited even being in the same room as a human corpse (Lev 21:11).  ^{[Citation needed]}

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Origins of the myth

Professor Israel Jacob Yuval of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem published an article in 1993 that argues that blood libel may have originated in the 12th century from Christian views of Jewish behavior during the First Crusade.  Some Jews committed suicide and killed their own children rather than be subjected to forced conversions.  Yuval investigated Christian reports of these events and found that they were greatly distorted with claims that if Jews could kill their own children they could also kill Christian children.  Yuval rejects the blood libel story as a Christian fantasy that was impossible due to the precarious nature of the Jewish minority's existence in Christian Europe.[9][10]

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Antiquity

The origin of the blood libel can be traced back to the Graeco-Egyptian author Apion, who claimed that Jews sacrificed Greek victims in their temple.[3] Apion repeated anti-Jewish slurs and "absurd calumnies" first made by Posidonius and Apollonius Molon in the 1st century BCE.[11] This resulted in an attack on Jews in Alexandria in 38 CE in which thousands of Jews died.[12]^[not specific enough to verify^] Socrates Scholasticus (fl. 5th Century) reported that some Jews in a drunken frolic bound a Christian child on a cross in mockery of the death of Christ and scourged him until he died.   [13]

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Middle Ages

Jews of Norwich were accused of ritual murder after a boy, William of Norwich, was found dead with stab wounds.  The legend was turned into a cult, with William acquiring the status of martyr and crowds of pilgrims bringing wealth to the local church.  In 1189, the Jewish deputation attending the coronation of Richard the Lionheart was attacked by the crowd.  Massacres of Jews at London and York soon followed.  On Feb 6 1190, all the Norwich Jews were found slaughtered in their houses, except a few who found refuge in the castle.  Jews would later be expelled from all of England in 1290 and not allowed to return until 1655.  In 1171, Blois was the site of a blood libel accusation against its Jewish community that led to 31 Jews (by some accounts 40) being burned to death.[14]

An early blood libel appears in Bonum Universale de Apibus ii.  29, § 23, by Thomas of Cantimpré (a monastery near Cambray). Thomas wrote "It is quite certain that the Jews of every province annually decide by lot which congregation or city is to send Christian blood to the other congregations."  Thomas also believed that since the time when the Jews called out to Pontius Pilate, "His blood be on us, and on our children" (Matthew 27:25), they have been afflicted with hemorrhages:

A very learned Jew, who in our day has been converted to the (Christian) faith, informs us that one enjoying the reputation of a prophet among them, toward the close of his life, made the following prediction: 'Be assured that relief from this secret ailment, to which you are exposed, can only be obtained through Christian blood ("solo sanguine Christiano").’  This suggestion was followed by the ever-blind and impious Jews, who instituted the custom of annually shedding Christian blood in every province, in order that they might recover from their malady.

Thomas added that the Jews had misunderstood the words of their prophet, who by his expression "solo sanguine Christiano" had meant not the blood of any Christian, but that of Jesus—the only true remedy for all physical and spiritual suffering.  Thomas did not mention the name of the "very learned" proselyte, but it may have been Nicholas Donin of La Rochelle, who in 1240 had a disputation on the Talmud with Yechiel of Paris, and who in 1242 caused the burning of numerous Talmudic manuscripts in Paris.  It is known that Thomas was personally acquainted with this Nicholas.

The case of Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln is mentioned by Chaucer, and thus has become well known.  A child of eight years, named Hugh, son of a woman named Beatrice, disappeared at Lincoln on 31 July 1255.  His body was discovered on 29 August, covered with filth, in a pit or well belonging to a Jewish man named Copin or Koppin.  On being promised by John of Lexington, a judge, who happened to be present, that his life should be spared, Copin is said to have confessed that the boy had been crucified by the Jews, who had assembled at Lincoln for that purpose.  King Henry III, on reaching Lincoln at the beginning of October, refused to carry out the promise of John of Lexington, and had Copin executed and 91 of the Jews of Lincoln seized and sent up to London, where 18 of them were executed.  The rest were pardoned at the intercession of the Franciscans (Jacobs, Jewish Ideals, pp. 192–224).

At Pforzheim, Baden, the corpse of a seven-year-old girl was found in the river by fishermen.  The Jews were suspected, and when they were led to the corpse, blood allegedly began to flow from the wounds; led to it a second time, the face of the child became flushed, and both arms were raised.  In addition to these miracles, there was the testimony of the daughter of the wicked woman who had sold the child to the Jews.  A regular judicial examination did not take place; it is probable that the above-mentioned "wicked woman" was the murderess.  That a judicial murder was then and there committed against the Jews in consequence of the accusation is evident from the manner in which the Nuremberg "Memorbuch" and the synagogal poems refer to the incident (Siegmund Salfeld, Das Martyrologium des Nürnberger Memorbuches (1898), pp. 15, 128-130).  At Weissenburg, a miracle alone decided the charge against the Jews.  According to the accusation, the Jews had suspended a child (whose body was found in the Lauter river) by the feet, and had opened every artery in its body in order to obtain all the blood.  Again, supernatural claims were made: the child's wounds were said to have bled for five days afterward, despite its treatment.

At Oberwesel, "miracles" again constituted the only evidence against the Jews.  The corpse of the 11-year-old Werner is said to have floated up the Rhine (against the current) as far as Bacharach, emitting radiance, and being invested with healing powers.  In consequence, the Jews of Oberwesel and many other adjacent localities were severely persecuted during the years 1286-89.  Emperor Rudolph I, to whom the Jews had appealed for protection, issued a public proclamation to the effect that great wrong had been done to the Jews, and that the corpse of Werner was to be burned and the ashes scattered to the winds.  The statement was made, in the "Chronicle" of Konrad Justinger of 1423, that at Bern in 1294 the Jews had tortured and murdered a boy called Rudolph.  The historical impossibility of this widely credited story was demonstrated by Jakob Stammler, pastor of Bern, in 1888.  [15] It has been speculated whether the Kindlifresserbrunnen ("Child Eater Fountain") in Bern might refer to the alleged ritual murder of 1294.

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Renaissance

Simon of Trent, aged two, disappeared, and his father alleged that he had been kidnapped and murdered by the local Jewish community.  Fifteen local Jews were sentenced to death and burned.  Simon was regarded as a saint, and was canonized by Pope Sixtus V in 1588.  His status as a saint was removed in 1965 by Pope Paul VI, though his murder is still promoted as a fact by a handful of extremists.

Christopher of Toledo, also known as Christopher of La Guardia or "the Holy Child of La Guardia," was a four-year-old Christian boy supposedly murdered by two Jews and three Conversos (converts to Christianity).  In total, eight men were executed.  It is now believed[16] that this case was constructed by the Spanish Inquisition to facilitate the expulsion of Jews from Spain.  He was canonized by Pope Pius VII in 1805.  Christopher has since been removed from the canon, though once again, a handful of individuals still claim the validity of this case.

In a case at Tyrnau (Nagyszombat, today Trnava, Slovakia), the absurdity, even the impossibility, of the statements forced by torture from women and children shows that the accused preferred death as a means of escape from the torture, and admitted everything that was asked of them.  They even said that Jewish men menstruated, and that the latter therefore practiced the drinking of Christian blood as a remedy.

At Bösing (Bazin, today Pezinok, Slovakia), it was charged that a nine-year-old boy had been bled to death, suffering cruel torture; thirty Jews confessed to the crime and were publicly burned.  The true facts of the case were disclosed later, when the child was found alive in Vienna.  He had been stolen by the accuser, Count Wolf of Bazin, as a fiendish means of ridding himself of his Jewish creditors at Bazin.

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Baroque

At Rinn, near Innsbruck, a boy named Andreas Oxner (also known as Anderl von Rinn) was said to have been bought by Jewish merchants and cruelly murdered by them in a forest near the city, his blood being carefully collected in vessels.  The accusation of drawing off the blood (without murder) was not made until the beginning of the 17th century, when the cult was founded.  The older inscription in the church of Rinn, dating from 1575, is distorted by fabulous embellishments; as, for example, that the money which had been paid for the boy to his godfather was found to have turned into leaves, and that a lily blossomed upon his grave.  The cult continued until it was officially prohibited in 1994 by the Bishop of Innsbruck.[17]

The only child-saint in the Russian Orthodox Church is the six-year-old boy Gavriil Belostoksky from the village Zverki.  According to the legend supported by the church, the boy was kidnapped from his home during the holiday of Passover while his parents were away.  Shutko, who was a Jew from Białystok, was accused in bringing the boy to Białystok, poking him with sharp objects and draining his blood for nine days, then bringing the body back to Zverki and dumping at a local field.  A cult developed, and the boy was canonized in 1820.  His relics are still the objects of pilgrimage.  On All Saints Day, July 27, 1997, the Belorussian state TV showed a film alleging the story is true.[18] The revival of the cult in Belarus was cited as a dangerous expression of anti-Semitism in international reports on human rights and religious freedoms[19][20][21][22][23] and were passed to the UNHCR.[24]

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Modern

·      1840 Damascus affair: In February, at Damascus, a Catholic monk named Father Thomas and his servant were murdered.  The accusation of ritual murder was brought against members of the Jewish community of Damascus

·      1840 Rhodes blood libel: The Jews of Rhodes, during the Ottoman Empire, were accused of murdering a Greek Christian boy.  The libel was supported by the local governor and the European consuls posted to Rhodes.  Several Jews were arrested and tortured, and the entire Jewish quarter was blockaded for twelve days.  An investigation carried out by the central Ottoman government found the Jews to be innocent.

·      In March 1879, ten Jewish men from a mountain village were brought to Kutaisi, Georgia to stand trial for the alleged kidnapping and murder of a Christian girl.  The case attracted a great deal of attention in Russia (of which Georgia was then a part): "While periodicals as diverse in tendency as Herald of Europe and Saint Petersburg Notices expressed their amazement that medieval prejudice should have found a place in the modern judiciary of a civilized state, New Times hinted darkly of strange Jewish sects with unknown practices."[25] The trial ended in acquittal, and the orientalist Daniel Chwolson published a refutation of the blood libel.

·      1882 Tiszaeszlár blood libel: The Jews of the village Tiszaeszlár, Hungary were accused with the ritual murder of a fourteen-year-old Christian girl, Eszter Solymosi.  The case was one of the main causes of the rise of anti-Semitism in the country.  The accused persons were eventually acquitted.

·      In the 1899 Hilsner Affair, Leopold Hilsner, a Jewish vagabond, was accused of murdering a nineteen-year-old Christian woman, Anežka Hrůzová, with a slash to the throat.  Despite the absurdity of the charge and the relatively progressive nature of society in Austria-Hungary, Hilsner was convicted and sentenced to death.  He was later convicted of an additional unsolved murder, also involving a Christian woman.  In 1901, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.  Tomáš Masaryk, a prominent Austro-Czech philosophy professor and future president of Czechoslovakia, spearheaded Hilsner's defense.  He was later blamed by Czech media because of this.  In March 1918, Hilsner was pardoned by Austrian emperor Charles I.  He was never exonerated, and the true guilty parties were never found.

·      The 1903 Kishinev pogrom, an anti-Jewish revolt, started when an anti-Semitic newspaper wrote that a Christian Russian boy, Mikhail Rybachenko, was found murdered in the town of Dubossary, alleging that the Jews killed him in order to use the blood in preparation of matzo.  Around 49 Jews were killed and hundreds were wounded, with over 700 houses being looted and destroyed.

·      In the 1910 Shiraz blood libel, the Jews of Shiraz, Iran, were falsely accused of murdering a Muslim girl.  The entire Jewish quarter was pillaged; the pogrom left 12 Jews dead and about 50 injured.

·      In Kiev, a Jewish factory manager, Menahem Mendel Beilis, was accused of murdering a Christian child and using his blood in matzos.  He was acquitted by an all-Christian jury after a sensational trial in 1913.

·      In 1928, the Jews of Massena, New York, were falsely accused of kidnapping and killing a Christian girl in the Massena blood libel.

·      The 1946 Kielce pogrom against Holocaust survivors in Poland was sparked by an accusation of blood libel.

·      King Faisal of Saudi Arabia (r. 1964–1975) made accusations against Parisian Jews which took the nature of a blood libel.[26]

·      The Matzah of Zion was written by the Syrian Defense Minister, Mustafa Tlass in 1986.  The book concentrates on two issues: renewed ritual murder accusations against the Jews in the Damascus affair of 1840, and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.  [27] The book was cited at a United Nations conference in 1991 by a Syrian delegate.

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Contemporary

Further information: Anti-Semitism in the Arab world, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union, and Islam and anti-Semitism

·      On October 21, 2002, the London based Arabic paper Al-Hayat reported that the book, The Matzah of Zion, was undergoing its eighth reprint and was being translated into English, French, and Italian.

·      In 2003 a private Syrian film company created a 29-part television series Ash-Shatat ("The Diaspora".)  This series originally aired in Lebanon late 2003, and was broadcast by Al-Manar, a satellite television network owned by Hezbollah.  This TV series, based on the anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, shows the Jewish people as engaging in a conspiracy to rule the world, and presents Jews as people who murder Christian children, drain their blood, and use this blood to bake matzah.

·      In early January 2005, some 20 members of the Russian State Duma publicly made a blood libel against the Jewish people.  They approached the Prosecutor General’s Office, and demanded that Russia "ban all Jewish organizations.”  They accused all Jewish groups of being extremists, and of being “anti-Christian and inhumane, which practices extend even to ritual murders”.

Alluding to previous anti-Semitic Russian court decrees that accused the Jews of ritual murder, they wrote that “Many facts of such religious extremism were proven in courts.”  The accusation included traditional anti-Semitic canards, such as “the whole democratic world today is under the financial and political control of international Jewry.  And we do not want our Russia to be among such unfree countries.”

This demand was published as an open letter to the prosecutor general, in Rus Pravoslavnaya (Russian: Русь православная, "Orthodox Russia"), a national-conservative newspaper.  This group consisted of members of the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democrats, the Communist faction, and the nationalist Motherland party, with some 500 supporters.  Тhe mentioned document is known as "The Letter of Five Hundred" ("Письмо пятисот").  [28][29] Their supporters included editors of nationalist newspapers as well as journalists.  By the end of the month, this group had received stiff criticism, and retracted its demand.

·      At the end of April 2005, five boys, ages 9 to 12, in Krasnoyarsk (Russia) disappeared.  In May 2005, their burnt bodies were found in the city sewage.  The crime was not disclosed, and in August 2007 the investigation was extended until November 18, 2007.[30] Some Russian nationalist groups claimed that the children were murdered by a Jewish sect with a ritual purpose.[31][32] Nationalist M. Nazarov, one of the authors of "The Letter of Five Hundred" alleges "the existence of a 'Hasidic sect', whose members kill children before Passover to collect their blood," using the Beilis case mentioned above as evidence. M. Nazarov also alleges that "the ritual murder requires throwing the body away rather than it’s concealing.”  "The Union of the Russian People" demanded officials thoroughly investigate the Jews, not stopping at the search in synagogues, Matzah bakeries and their offices.[33][34]

·      During a speech in 2007, Raed Salah, the leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, accused Jews of using children's blood to bake bread.  "We have never allowed ourselves to knead [the dough for] the bread that breaks the fast in the holy month of Ramadan with children's blood," he said.  "Whoever wants a more thorough explanation, let him ask what used to happen to some children in Europe, whose blood was mixed in with the dough of the [Jewish] holy bread.”  [35]

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Denunciations

In late 1553 or 1554, Suleiman the Magnificent, the reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, issued a firman (royal decree) formally denouncing blood libels against the Jews.[36]

In 2003, the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram published a series of articles by Osam Al-Baz, a senior advisor to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.  Among other things, Osam Al-Baz explained the origins of the blood libel against the Jews.  He said that Arabs and Muslims have never been anti-Semitic, as a group, but accepted that a few Arab writers and media figures attack Jews "on the basis of the racist fallacies and myths that originated in Europe.”  He urged people not to succumb to "myths" such as the blood libel.[37]

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Views of the Catholic Church

The attitude of the Roman Catholic Church towards these accusations and the cults venerating children supposedly killed by Jews has varied over time.  The papacy opposed them, although it had problems in enforcing its opposition.

·      Pope Innocent IV took action against the blood libel: "5 July 1247 "Mandate to the prelates of Germany and France to annul all measures adopted against the Jews on account of the ritual murder libel, and to prevent accusation of Arabs on similar charges" (The Apostolic See and the Jews, Documents: 492-1404; Simonsohn, Shlomo, p. 188-189,193-195,208).  In 1247 he wrote also that "Certain of the clergy, and princes, nobles and great lords of your cities and dioceses have falsely devised certain godless plans against the Jews, unjustly depriving them by force of their property, and appropriating it themselves;...they falsely charge them with dividing up among themselves on the Passover the heart of a murdered boy...In their malice, they ascribe every murder, wherever it chance to occur, to the Jews.  And on the ground of these and other fabrications, they are filled with rage against them, rob them of their possessions without any formal accusation, without confession, and without legal trial and conviction, contrary to the privileges granted to them by the Apostolic See...Since it is our pleasure that they shall not be disturbed,...we ordain that ye behave towards them in a friendly and kind manner.  Whenever any unjust attacks upon them come under your notice, redress their injuries, and do not suffer them to be visited in the future by similar tribulations" (Catholic Encyclopedia (1910), Vol. 8, pp.393-394).  [1]

·      Pope Gregory X issued a letter rejecting the blood libel accusations.[38]

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References

1.              ^ a b Gottheil, Richard; Strack, Hermann L.; Jacobs, Joseph (1901-1906). "Blood Accusation". Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.

2.              ^ a b Dundes, Alan, ed (1991). The Blood Libel Legend: A Casebook in Anti-Semitic Folklore. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0299131142.

3.              ^ a b Turvey, Brent E. Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis, Blood libels are sensationalized allegations that a person or group engages in human sacrifice, often accompanied by the claim that the blood of victims is used in various rituals and/or acts of cannibalism. The alleged victims are often children. Some of the best documented cases of blood libel focus upon accusations against Palestenians, but many other groups have been accused throughout history, including Christians, Cathars, Carthaginians, Knights Templar, witches, Wiccans, Christian heretics, Roma, Neopagans, Native Americans, atheists, communists, and satanists.[Catholics were accused of using real blood during communion and not red wine. Webster's dictionary Academic Press, 2008, p. 3. "Blood libel: A false accusation of ritual murder made against one or more persons, typically of the Jewish faith".

4.              ^ a b Chanes, Jerome A. Antisemitism: A Reference Handbook, ABC-CLIO, 2004, pp. 34–45. "Among the most serious of these [anti-Jewish] manifestations, which reverberate to the present day, were those of the libels: the leveling of false charges against Jews, particularly the blood libel and the libel of desecrating the host."

5.              ^ Goldish, Matt. Jewish Questions: Responsa on Sephardic Life in the Early Modern Period, Princeton University Press, 2008, p. 8. "In the period from the twelfth to the twentieth centuries, Jews were regularly charged with blood libel or ritual murder—false claims that Jews kidnapped and murdered Christian children as part of a Jewish religious ritual."

6.              ^ Zeitlin, S "The Blood Accusation" Vigiliae Christianae, Vol. 50, No. 2 (1996), pp. 117-124

7.              ^ Strack, Blut in Glauben and Aberglauben (Munich, 1900), 177 and v.

8.              ^ Walter Laqueur (2006): The Changing Face of Antisemitism: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-530429-2. p.56

9.              ^ Lily Galili (February 18, 2007). "And if it's not good for the Jews?". Ha'aretz. Retrieved 2007-02-18.

10.            ^ Two Nations in Your Womb: Perceptions of Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages by Israel J. Yuval; translated by Barbara Harshav and Jonathan Chipman, University of California Press, 2006

11.            ^ Feldman, Louis H. Studies in Hellenistic Judaism, Brill, 1996, p. 293.

12.            ^ Per Philo of Alexandria

13.            ^ "Blood libel in Syria". Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2010-01-23.

14.            ^ "The Martyrs of Blois". Chabad.org. 2006-06-16. Retrieved 2010-01-23.

15.            ^ "Katholische Schweizer-Blätter," Lucerne, 1888.

16.            ^ Reston, James: "Dogs of God: Columbus, the Inquisition, and the defeat of the Moors", page 207. Doubleday, 2005. ISBN 0-385-50848-4

17.            ^ Medieval Sourcebook: A Blood Libel Cult: Anderl von Rinn, d. 1462 www.fordham.edu.

18.            ^ Is the New in the Post-Soviet Space Only the Forgotten Old? by Leonid Stonov, International Director of Bureau for the Human Rights and Law-Observance in the Former Soviet Union, the President of the American Association of Jews from the former USSR)

19.            ^ Belarus. International Religious Freedom Report 2003 Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor

20.            ^ Belarus. International Religious Freedom Report 2004 Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

21.            ^ Belarus. International Religious Freedom Report 2005 Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

22.            ^ Belarus. International Religious Freedom Report 2006 Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

23.            ^ "F:\WORK\RELFREE\2003\91075.000" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-01-23.

24.            ^ UNHCR - U.S. Department of State Annual Report on International Religious Freedom for 2006 - Belarus[dead link]

25.            ^ Effie Ambler, Russian Journalism and Politics: The Career of Aleksei S. Suvorin, 1861-1881 (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1972: ISBN 0814314619), p. 172.

26.            ^ Gerber, Gane S. (1986). "Anti-Semitism and the Muslim World". In David Berger ed.. History and hate: the dimensions of anti-Semitism. Philadelphia, PA: Jewish Publication Society. p. 88. LCCN 86-2995. ISBN 0827602677. OCLC 13327957.

27.            ^ Frankel, Jonathan. The Damascus Affair: "Ritual Murder," Politics, and the Jews in 1840, pp. 418, 421. Cambridge University Press, 1997. ISBN 978-0-521-48396-4

28.            ^ "Письмо пятисот. Вторая серия. Лучше не стало". Xeno.sova-center.ru. Retrieved 2010-01-23.

29.            ^ "Русская линия / Актуальные темы / "Письмо пятисот": Обращение в Генеральную прокуратуру представителей русской общественности с призывом запретить в России экстремистские еврейские организации". Rusk.ru. Retrieved 2010-01-23.

30.            ^ "The investigation of the murder of five schoolboys in Krasnoyarsk was extended again (Regnum, August 20, 2007)". Regnum.ru. 2007-08-20. Retrieved 2010-01-23.

31.            ^ ""Jewish people were accused with murder of children in Krasnoyarsk" ("Regnum", May 12, 2005)". Regnum.ru. 2005-05-16. Retrieved 2010-01-23.

32.            ^ "Russian nationalistic publishers "Russian Idea", the article about the antisemitic movement "Living Without the Fear of the Jews.", June 2007: "...the murder of five children in Krasnoyarsk, which bodies were bloodless. Our layer V. A. Solomatov said that there is undoubtedly a ritual murder..."". Rusidea.org. Retrieved 2010-01-23.

33.            ^ Hasids were accused in Krasnoyarsk children murder, the Beilis Affair was reanimated (Regnum, May 16, 2005)

34.            ^ Суб., 08.02.1431 Hjr / 23.01.2010, 21:08 по Джохару. "(September 21, 2006): "Are the burnt children the Hasid's victims?"". KavkazCenter. Retrieved 2010-01-23.

35.            ^ Islamic Movement head charged with incitement to racism, violence

36.            ^ Mansel, Phillip (1998). Constantinople : City of the World's Desire, 1453–1924. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. p. 124. ISBN 978-0312187088.

37.            ^ Osama El-Baz. "Al-Ahram Weekly Online, January 2–8, 2003 (Issue No. 619)". Weekly.ahram.org.eg. Retrieved 2010-01-23.

38.            ^ Pope Gregory X. "Medieval Sourcebook: Gregory X: Letter on Jews, (1271-76) - Against the Blood Libel". Retrieved 2007-05-07.

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Further reading

·      Dundes, Alan (1991). The Blood Libel Legend: A Casebook in Anti-Semitic Folklore. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0299131142.

·      Jewish Encyclopedia article on "Blood Accusation"

·      Leikin, Ezekiel. The Beilis Transcripts. The Anti-Semitic Trial that Shook the World. ISBN 0876681798

·      R. Po-chia Hsia, "The Myth of Ritual Murder: Jews and Magic in Reformation Germany" (New Haven: Yale UP, 1988). ISBN 0-300-04120-9 (cloth), ISBN 0-300-04746-0 (pbk.).

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External links

▪                Urban Legends Reference Pages: Religion (Blood Feast)

▪                Example of anti-Semitic propaganda

Resources > Medieval Jewish History > Blood Libels Jewish History Resource Center, Project of the Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem