Jonathan Zimmerman: What 'Blood Libel' Really Means
[Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history and education at New York University. He is the author of “Small Wonder: The Little Red Schoolhouse in History and Memory.”]
In 1255, an 8-year-old boy named Hugh was found dead at the bottom of a well in Lincoln, England. Rumors spread across the village, and soon everyone knew who had done it: the Jews....
And that, my fellow Americans, was a real “blood libel.” Not the kind invoked by Sarah Palin, who needs a little history lesson of her own....
As late as 1928, in Massena, N.Y., Jews faced blood-libel charges in the disappearance of a 4-year-old girl. After all, the town’s mayor noted, the girl had disappeared just two days before Yom Kippur; perhaps Jews had killed her as part of their worship. When the child was discovered a few days later, unharmed, the mayor was forced to apologize....
Palin should apologize, too. And not just to Jews, including Giffords.
No, Palin should apologize to all of us. In a speech condemning the irresponsibility of her critics, who have played fast and loose with the facts, Palin did something even worse: She trivialized one of the great crimes of human history....
Read entire article at Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In 1255, an 8-year-old boy named Hugh was found dead at the bottom of a well in Lincoln, England. Rumors spread across the village, and soon everyone knew who had done it: the Jews....
And that, my fellow Americans, was a real “blood libel.” Not the kind invoked by Sarah Palin, who needs a little history lesson of her own....
As late as 1928, in Massena, N.Y., Jews faced blood-libel charges in the disappearance of a 4-year-old girl. After all, the town’s mayor noted, the girl had disappeared just two days before Yom Kippur; perhaps Jews had killed her as part of their worship. When the child was discovered a few days later, unharmed, the mayor was forced to apologize....
Palin should apologize, too. And not just to Jews, including Giffords.
No, Palin should apologize to all of us. In a speech condemning the irresponsibility of her critics, who have played fast and loose with the facts, Palin did something even worse: She trivialized one of the great crimes of human history....