The tragedy of Gaza has been weaponized by Hamas as blood libel against the Jews

During the last few weeks,, we have witnessed the FBI categorizing the Jews as the most targeted for hate crimes of any religious group despite constituting less than 2.5 percent of the U.S. population, the refusal to condemn the genocidal “globalize the intifada” by the Democratic party’s nominee for mayor in the most densely Jewish populated city outside Israel, and the firebombing of three cars outside the residence of a Jew in the suburbs of St. Louis.

This sad summary on the rise of antisemitism on our shores is directly connected to how the tragic situation in Gaza is portrayed. Unfortunately, the narrative — blood libel — repeated incessantly in the headlines of the Western press, is too familiar in our Jewish experience.

The blood libel — the accusation that Jews kill gentiles for their blood to bake into matzah — has haunted Jewish communities for almost a millennium. The first case in medieval times was as early as 1144 in Norwich, England, and it was promulgated in many towns during the Crusades. It was combined with the myth of well poisoning during the Black Plague of the 14th century and codified by Martin Luther in his “On the Jews and Their Lies,” published in 1543.

Most recently, the Kishinev pogroms of 1903 were fomented by accusations of blood libel, and the most popular issue of the Nazi publication “Der Sturmer,” in May 1934, was devoted specifically to accusations of blood libel.

Following this pattern of antisemitic populism, Hamas has weaponized the hunger in Gaza against Israel and the Jews.

Let’s be clear. There is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, precipitated by Hamas’s brutal attacks of October 7. As the “elected” governing body in control of Gaza since evicting the Palestinian Authority in 2006, Hamas is responsible for the welfare of its citizens. Israel, the victim of its attacks, is not. We didn’t feed the Germans or Japanese until their unconditional surrenders in 1945. My parents benefitted from the largesse of the U.S. Army and the Joint Distribution Committee during the four years they spent in a Displaced Persons camp after the war.

But the Israelis, motivated by their moral responsibility and international pressure, and their partners have provided hundreds of thousands of tons of food and medical supplies. Meanwhile, Hamas does everything it can to sabotage food delivery, including shooting at desperate families seeking food and fostering widespread looting of food and its resale at exorbitant prices. According to its own data, an incredible 87 percent of U.N. aid trucks have been looted, impeding the distribution of aid. And Hamas doesn’t want the American-controlled Gaza Humanitarian Aid involved because it can’t loot its food. It arrogantly demanded its removal as one of its conditions for a ceasefire.

Not caring about the needs of its population, Hamas is conducting a propaganda war, falsely accusing Israel of killing dozens of Palestinians seeking food and using it as a weapon of war. And the Western media uncritically report grim statistics on civilian deaths provided by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry. Would we rely on information on civilian casualties provided by Joseph Goebbels?

The U.N. reinforced this when its spokesman predicted that 14,000 babies were near imminent death from starvation. His retraction days later was hardly reported.

Then there are the doctored photos printed on the front pages of leading newspapers, led by the New York Times, that show an emaciated baby unfortunately suffering from cerebral palsy, not malnutrition as alleged. The child’s well-fed sibling was cropped out of the photo. The Times corrected its mistake days later. But the visual damage was done, portraying Israel as the killer of babies. President Herzog showed a photo of a journalist orchestrating “starving” civilians into position for a photo when plentiful food stocks were strategically hidden behind them.

This is not to say that the Israeli government didn’t make serious mistakes. According to the journalist Haviv Rattig Gur, during its most recent ceasefire, Israel delivered 300,000 tons of food and calculated that it would have enough food for the civilian population as it cut off future food supplies to pressure Hamas to negotiate. It underestimated the amount of looting by Hamas and armed gangs and hoarding by civilians. Nevertheless, subsequent Israeli efforts are on the par with the Berlin airlift.

While this antisemitic blood libel spreads like a virus, Hamas is exacting real starvation on its hostages. The image of an emaciated Evyatar David digging his own grave is cruel and reminiscent of scenes German soldiers photographed of Jews digging their own graves in Babai Yar and elsewhere. But, as Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar protested at the U.N. Security Council, the New York Times, supposed newspaper of record, did not print the authentic photo of this starving victim. Has it no shame?

Meanwhile, feckless European leaders responding to this stream of unconfirmed blood libel against the Jewish State have given Israel an ultimatum to declare a ceasefire. Otherwise they will recognize a Palestinian state. Aside from the fact that this will not move the needle at all, it gave Hamas the incentive to resist any call for a ceasefire as the Europeans gave them the prize without Hamas giving up anything.

And the state Hamas would accept is a Palestinian state, which would eliminate the Jewish state by violent means. The real genocidal enemy is Hamas, which values dead Gazans as much as dead Jews as cannon fodder in its propaganda war.

As Gerard Baker wrote in the Wall Street Journal last week: “What is so sickening about this — and the deafening chorus of condemnation Israel receives for its war effort — is that it is so far from the underlying moral truth of this war. Israel is on the side that wants lasting peace and security. Its enemies want a state of permanent and existential war and suffering for the innocents.”

We should not forget this even, as we shudder reading headlines in an unreliable and compliant press.

Max Kleinman of Fairfield was the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest from 1995 to 2014. He is the president of the Fifth Commandment Foundation and consultant for the Jewish Community Legacy Project.