Blood Libel/Child Murder

The classic antisemitic topos of blood libel has a history spanning many centuries and still looms large in the present-day antisemitic discourse. The claim that Jews kidnap non-Jewish children in order to abuse and kill them in the religious rite of human sacrifice (especially around the Jewish holidays of Passover and Purim) paints a grotesque picture of Jews: not only separate and different, but irreconcilably and unacceptably so. While it could be read as an expression of the more general topoi of inherent Jewish “evil” or “immorality,” blood libel transmits distinct connotations of monstrousness and bloodthirst, emphasised further by the youth, innocence and vulnerability of the alleged victims. It carries considerable emotional intensity, which makes blood libel a powerful tool of antisemitic manipulation and misinformation, and its ability to capture imaginations is perhaps one of the reasons for its longevity. In Israel-related discourse, it is frequently utilised in updated form, through the accusation that Israel routinely and deliberately seeks to kill children as a central objective in the Arab-Israeli conflict.