Blood libel alive and well in Arab world

A new book was published in Arabic that is getting some publicity in the Jordanian media, called "Jewish Hostility Towards Christ and Christians," by Assad Azzouni.

According to these articles, the book includes risible charges such as saying that Jews are trying to destroy Christianity and convert all Christians to Judaism. It also devotes much space to how the Talmud is dedicated to starting wars, and of course has complete faith in the autheticity of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as well as Jews being behind all Masonic activities.

None of the articles about this book show the slightest bit of skepticism about Azzouni's claims.

Beyond that, Azzouni wrote his own article in Al Watan Voice about the same theme. In that article, almost as an aside, he writes:

Do not forget the need to kill Christian children and use to knead their blood in a dough on their festival.

Then he goes beyond the standard blood libel to add a specifically Islamic twist:

According to Rabbi Moses Abu Alhafiyah, the Talmud analyzes two types of blood for the pure blood of the Passover. If Christian blood is not available, Muslim blood is acceptable, because they believe that many Christians converted to Islam.

No comments on the article, no one protesting this throwback to the anti-semitism of the Middle Ages in Europe. It is simply accepted as a fact in the Arab world. In English, they will stress how much they love Jews but in mainstream Arabic media opinions like these are accepted wholeheartedly.

And this is just from a quick search for the word "Jew" in Arabic newspapers published today.