In his regular column in the Jordanian daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm, Palestinian columnist Nawwaf Al-Zarou slammed U.S. President Barack Obama for expressing support for Israel and the Jewish people during his recent visit to Jerusalem – and especially for his custom of holding a Passover Seder at the White House. Al-Zarou claimed that many of the stories about the Jews' use of Christian blood during Passover are based in fact, and wondered whether Obama is aware of them.
The article was also posted on the Arabic section of miftah.org, the website of PLO Executive Committee member Hanan 'Ashrawi, which is funded by the U.N., but was removed from this site several days later.
It should be noted that Al-Zarou has published articles in the past in which he claimed that the medieval blood libels against the Jews were based in fact. He has also published articles denying the Holocaust, as well as articles claiming that 9/11 was an Israeli-American plot.[1]
The following are excerpts from Al-Zarou's article:[2]
Nawwaf Al-Zarou
"In his recent visit to 'Israel,' President Obama did not only make an oily and purely Zionist speech, but adopted the traditional old Zionist rhetoric. He did not only pledge loyalty to the [Zionist] entity [and promise it] boundless military, economic, media and technological support. [He did not only] register Palestine as [Zionist] real estate, since it is 'a land without a people for a people without a land,' and hand Jerusalem over [to the Zionists] to be the eternal capital of 'Israel.' [Rather,] he went even deeper and farther, adopting the Jewish festivals and religious rituals.
"In a central speech to Israeli students, meant to convey his 'heartfelt message to the [Israeli] citizens,' he said he was 'proud to have brought this tradition into the White House,' and added that he did so because he wanted his daughters to learn the legacy of freeing slaves from bondage. [Obama said further that], to African Americans, the story of the Exodus is 'the most powerful image about emerging from the grip of bondage to reach for liberty. For the Jewish people, the journey to the promise of the State of Israel wound through countless generations. It involved centuries of suffering and exile, prejudice and pogroms and even genocide. Through it all, the Jewish people sustained their unique identity and traditions, as well as a longing to return home.' Thus spoke Obama about the Israelis' right to Palestine…
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"Can you picture the American president reading out this phony traditional religious Zionist text in front of Israeli students, as an open message to the world on a direct and live broadcast? [It sounds like a speech] delivered not by Obama but by Israel's greatest rabbi. Had we encountered this text on its own, we would have never ascribed it to the American president! We can understand the American president visiting [Israel], flattering [the Israelis], expressing support and strengthening the strategic alliance between the two countries. But adopting the Jewish rituals? Why, Mr. President? Imagine the 'Jewish Passover' becoming a tradition at the White House! Has the White House become a religious Jewish school run by the greatest Jewish rabbis?! Or perhaps it has been occupied by the Zionist lobby, as [Israeli writer and journalist] Uri Avnery says.
"This is not the first time President Obama [has celebrated] the Jewish Passover. He has also done so in the past. In 2009, he invited close friends and some functionaries from his administration to a special dinner at the White House on the occasion of the holiday. White House officials revealed that the dinner had included special dishes from the Jewish kitchen. The Jews call this meal 'Passover Seder'…
"Does President Obama know the truth about the connection between 'Passover' and 'Christian blood,' for example?! Or between 'Passover' and the 'Jewish blood dances'?! Or is this a matter of pandering to the Jewish Council,[3] in order to please it or to make up for the declarations about a 'two-state solution'…?!
"Many of the historical accounts and stories about the Jewish blood dances in Europe are based on real rituals, not on invented ones, as is claimed. The fact that 'the Jews used Christian blood during the Jewish Passover' was documented by Jewish historian Professor Ariel Toaff of Bar Ilan University in his book Passovers of Blood, which was published in Italy… Despite the barrage of condemnations directed at him, [Toaff] insisted that the claims presented in his book were based in fact, including the [claims] about some of the European blood libels. The author noted that he had managed to prove, over dozens of pages, that blood is central to the Passover festival, and that he had come to the conclusion that blood was used during the Passover festival, especially by Ashkenazi Jews, who believed that the blood of children had special qualities and therefore used powers made from [children's] blood.
"Obama faces many questions regarding this matter, chief among them [the question] regarding the connection between Passover and blood, and [also the question of] why Passover is becoming a tradition at the White House. Is this happening out of sycophancy, loyalty, or a [sense of] debt…?"
[1] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 4940, Palestinian Columnist: 9/11 – An American-Israeli Plot, September 10, 2012; Special Dispatch No. 2730, Palestinian Journalist: Medieval Blood Libels Against Jews are Based in Fact, January 5, 2010.
[2] Al-Arab Al-Yawm (Jordan), March 26, 2013.
[3] Possibly refers to the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC), a Jewish-American organization dedicated to promoting Jewish support for the Democratic party and to promoting Democratic support for Jewish domestic and foreign policy priorities.
