A prominent Egyptian recently revived an old anti-Semitic blood libel, claiming Jews use blood to prepare matzot on Passover, the Middle East Media Research Institute has found.
Dr. Fouad M. AbdelWahed, an Egyptian professor of Hebrew at King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, said in an interview on the Egyptian TV show "Blue Line" that some Jews eat matzot on Passover that contain human blood.
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He said that he believes that some members of the Jewish community donate the blood for the purpose of preparing the matzah and that the practice, which he said is today limited to "extremist" ultra-Orthodox Jews, was once widespread among Jews. He further said that the consumption of this matzah has negative effects on one's health.
"Blue Line," which airs on Egypt's Channel 2 TV, often features anti-Semitic content.
When asked, the academic confessed that "by Allah, I don't know where they get the blood from."
The idea Jewish people use human blood for ritualistic reasons was first recorded in 1149 when the body of a child called William was found in a wood near Norwich, England.
Based on the testimony of Theobald of Cambridge, a Jewish convert to Christianity who claimed Jews use human blood taken from Christian children for ritualistic reasons, the idea entered the antisemitic lore and led to further accusations, and violence, against Jewish communities around the world.
