Jewish Kids Become New Blood Libel for Israel
Child atrocity porn from 12th Century England to the Bibas boys
In the Middle Ages, occasionally a Christian child like William of Norwich would die under mysterious circumstances.
But starting in 12th Century England, Christian kids’ deaths began to be falsely blamed on Jews. This was the original Blood Libel, which was used to incite pogroms against Jewish communities in England, France, Germany, and Russia.
Now, the Israeli government has resurrected the Blood Libel against Palestinians, portraying them as child-killing monsters. Israel tells completely unsupported stories of beheaded babies, babies baked in ovens or thrown into trash cans by Hamas or hung on clothes lines to die.
Despite there being no evidence for any of these claims, many supporters of Israel believe them to this day, and many IDF soldiers have used them to motivate their own killing sprees in Gaza. In my social media comments, Zionists repeat them and call me a Jew-hater when I ask for evidence. The latest egregious examples of Israeli atrocity child porn are the children Ariel and Kfir Bibas.
In late November 2023, when Hamas announced the deaths of 4-year old Ariel and 9-month old Kfir Bibas under Israeli bombing, I mourned their loss, as I grieved the other children dying in Gaza. I had no reason to doubt the Hamas account, as thousands of Palestinian women and children were dying from Israeli bombing at the time.
Now that the Bibas’ bodies have been returned, I am appalled by the Israeli leadership’s employment of their deaths to promote the killing of more children. They are building a new Blood Libel around these innocents to promote their own genocidal wars.
In a statement that went viral on social media, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said, “Ariel and Kfir were not killed in an airstrike — Ariel and Kfir Bibas were murdered by terrorists in cold blood. The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys — they killed them with their bare hands. Afterwards, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities. This assessment is based on both forensic findings from the identification process, and intelligence that supports the findings. We have shared these findings, intelligence and forensics, with our partners around the world, so they can verify it, and [so] that the entire world will know exactly how the Hamas terrorist organization operates.”
Notice that he provides no specific evidence. Notice the generic “forensic findings” and the unspecified “horrific acts.” Notice also that two cute captive children would be powerful bargaining chips for Hamas, and they would have absolutely no reason to kill them. Alive, they were worth their weight in gold for prisoner exchange. Hamas would probably have sacrificed some of their own people to keep them alive if they could.
But like all good propagandists, Hagari and Prime Minister Netanyahu are pandering to emotions. They don’t have to make sense.
According to the Times of Israel, Netanyahu held up the Bibas family pictures while telling IDF officers, “They strangled these tender boys with their bare hands,” going on to say he was ready for the fragile ceasefire in Gaza to end, “to return at any moment to intensive combat,” no matter how many more Israelis and Palestinians have to die.
Origin of the Blood Libel
The Blood Libel arose in England in the century after the French conquered the island in 1066. The first victim, William of Norwich died in 1144. Many Jews had followed the Norman conquerors into England and set up shop running things for royalty, as Jews have done in many other places. They spoke French and they became the hated face of the Norman Conquest. The Blood Libel was a way of getting back at them. These kinds of stories appear almost exclusively in Anglo-Saxon literature of the time.
The term ‘Blood Libel’ arose because the Jews supposedly drank Christian children’s blood in ceremonies or used it to bake matzo for Passover. Pretty triggering stuff, though it contravenes the most basic Jewish dietary laws against consuming blood, much less human blood. But again, libels don’t have to make sense.
According to Wikipedia, claims of Jewish child murder spread during the time of the Crusades and became established ‘reality’ for their believers. The Crusades were another time of mass violence, conquest, and change, and people needed someone to blame.
I can imagine that invented scenes of child murder, vividly described though given without evidence, would gain many adherents who could then feel justified in doing terrible things. That is why the victims of these supposed ritual murders were always children.
Israeli leaders seem to understand this psychology very well. They cynically use Jews’ love of their children to incite hatred against Palestinians or against Arabs in general, though Arabs love their children as much or more than Jews love theirs.
Even top Israeli scientists blend psychological warfare with their research. On Mondoweiss.com, Jonathan Ofir quotes the top Israeli forensic doctor Chen Kugel saying of his work on the returned bodies, “We have encountered abysses of evil and malice that we could not imagine existed.” What the hell is scientific about that? What are the specifics? Where is the data? They’re just triggering their followers, as blood libel accusations are meant to do.
Reclaiming dead children’s memory
In Judaism, we say of the dead, “May their memory be a blessing.” Israel’s government is instead making the Bibas children’s memory a curse. We are watching Israel use the Bibas family to manufacture consent for genocide. If Netanyahu has his way, their memory will join William of Norwich and the fictional “beheaded babies” of October 7 as children who, against their will, facilitated the deaths of countless children just like them.
Is this what Ariel and Kfir would have wanted? From published statements, it’s certainly not what the surviving family wants. Israel and the US profoundly dishonor everyone killed on all sides. This is how they roll: commit some atrocity, artfully frame it as their enemies’ fault; use it to promote further atrocities, then call anyone who questions them a terrorist-supporting antisemite.
To truly honor the Bibas children and all the other dead, let’s work towards making peace.
