62 thoughts on “Sarah Palin’s Latest ‘Blood Libel’ Travesty – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. Sarah Palin? Who? Ohhh, Sarah Failin… yes, now I see.

    “We know violence is not the answer. When we say we take our arms, we’re talking about our vote.”

    What a moron.

      1. err “take UP our arms” typo…

        Yes, evolution has failed us with this one… figuratively speaking, of course 😉

  2. RE: “Sarah Palin’s Latest ‘Blood Libel’ Travesty” – R.S.
    SOUND THE BUGLE! LET THE TRUMPETS BLARE!
    Exclusive: Alan Dershowitz Defends Sarah Palin’s Use of Term ‘Blood Libel’ ~ by Publius @ Andrew Breitbart’s “Big Government” [lol!!! – JLD], 01/12/11

    In an exclusive statement, famed attorney and Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz defended Sarah Palin’s use of the term “blood libel” from multiple detractors. As the Media Matters/MSM/Democrat narrative on the Tucson tragedy unravels, they are getting a lot more desperate in their attacks on Palin. Fortunately, there are still plenty of honest liberals [lol!!! – JLD] around:

    The term “blood libel” has taken on a broad metaphorical meaning in public discourse. Although its historical origins were in theologically based false accusations against the Jews and the Jewish People,its current usage is far broader. I myself have used it to describe false accusations against the State of Israel by the Goldstone Report. There is nothing improper and certainly nothing anti-Semitic in Sarah Palin using the term to characterize what she reasonably believes are false accusations that her words or images may have caused a mentally disturbed individual to kill and maim. The fact that two of the victims are Jewish is utterly irrelevant to the propriety of using this widely used term.

    SOURCE – http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/01/12/exclusive-alan-dershowitz-defends-sarah-palins-use-of-term-blood-libel/

  3. I can’t believe that so many like this woman. that hurts me the most. in east texas a man mentioned to his son & friends if you were going to rob someone it should be ? and he lives in Madisonville, Tx with all his money in the back pocket. I had bought from the man he spoke about. he did pull all that money to give change with a pistol on his side. he was a judge or had been and it was shop on the court house square. one of the son’s friend took the advice & went to rob the man. They both shot each other to death. he wouldn’t give up the money. the man that suggested the robbery went to prison. he didn’t know It would be taken seriously. this was about 15 years ago. I thought about that when Palin put the cross hairs and named names. I thought that when someone was shot that she would be liable.

  4. This whole story more and more resembles Rabin’s assassination. It was preceded by “overheated political discourse”, which involved such terms as Nazi, Traitor etc. The level of hate in the society hit the high watermark.
    And then, after the murder, that same right-wingers who were inciting it, lamented about the “blood libel”.

      1. We have a saying in german, methode “Haltet den Dieb!”, which means a thief showing in one direcion, shouting “hold the thief!” while running away in the other direction…

        Palins behaviour reminds me of that, but her timing just a few hours ahead of Obamas speech, and my assumption, that she hadn’t written her text by her own(?), let me ask myself who and why ist behind her provocative behaviour?

  5. Oh dear. What a lot of horse shit. Wasting time on Sarah Palin’s use of metaphor is nonsense. In her ignorance, she knows not what she says. But when Alan D. And Abe F. come to her defense, that is the last straw. They DO know better. But the thing is a tempest in a teapot, and should not be allowed to grow into a storm by calling attention to it. I am more offended by everyone having rushed to judgement about the crazy assassin in Arizona. All the Jewish mavens immediately screamed anti-Semitism, when it was anything but. It is time stop promulgating anti-Semitism as the cause for everything.

    BTW: I’m not certain of my sources, but I am given to understand that Palin is herself a descendant of Jews.

    1. Palin is herself a descendant of Jews.

      Whoever gave you to understand this is full of horse manure. I wish you’d have some sources when you make statements like this. When you have any credible ones, let us know.

        1. Would you consider this – wether she’s jewish or not – to be important for what she’s doing or representing in todays politics of the United States and if so, why?

          1. I certainly don’t consider it important. That’s why, in my original comment above, I called it a lot of horse shit.

        2. Not credible. But I’ll ask my Rachel Tabachnick, who’s my resident expert on all things Christian fundamentalist. BTW, these loons actually see themselves as “new Jews” & see themselves as a poor persecuted minority. So it wouldn’t surprise me if she or her supporters would want to find Jewish blood in her somewhere. But I don’t believe it for a second.

  6. I couldn’t believe what I was reading you crying over a term equated with anti-semitism being used? The guy who calls Israelis Nazis – who covorts with Norm Finkelstein the king of using Nazi and anti-semitic slurs against anyone who disagrees with him – and someone who bans anyone on his comments section (who doesn’t agree with the blog of course) that uses or even hints at the term anti-semite…

    But ah…………… then one realizes the post is put up to demean someone on the right of American politics – a fool that she is – but nonetheless exposing the endlessly cavernous hypocrisy of the blog writer…

    I wondered when you wrote this if you even blushed or thought twice for a second at how glaringly you were exposing your giant sized hypocrisy? Or you weren’t worried because you have the ACCEPT comment button and then the DELETE button always handy….

    1. The guy who calls Israelis Nazis

      I little quick on the trigger aren’t we? Which Israelis (plural) have I called Nazis? And btw, you seem to have missed the fact that Udi Aloni in the Ynet article I linked to today noted that he used to refuse to use comparisons to Nazism, but that invocations of a Palestinian Auscwitz fr. frumeh rabbis has made him think twice about it. Are you as hot under the collar about Udi as me?

      who covorts [sic] with Norm Finkelstein

      what utter nonsense. Norman Finkelstein doesn’t “cavort” with anyone. And certainly not with me. I write about Norman Finkelstein, so that makes me cavort w him?

      someone who bans anyone on his comments section (who doesn’t agree with the blog of course)

      There are commenters commenting here every day who disagree w. me & are not banned. If you follow the comment rules you’re not banned. And I also ban some commenters on the left. But that doesn’t bother you, does it?

      the post is put up to demean someone on the right of American politics

      I didn’t ask Sarah Palin to make an idiot of herself by invoking an anti-Semitic trope. She did that to herself. I’d have preferred she kept her mouth shut & gave me nothing to write about. But alas she didn’t. Maybe you can write her & suggest the next time she wants to make a fool out of herself she should shut up instead. Then I won’t have to write anything about her at all, which would make me happy.

      I wondered when you wrote this if you even blushed

      I wondered when you wrote your comment whether you even blushed at your inanity. But I guess not. An intellectual buffoon has no sense of being one.

      exposing your giant sized hypocrisy?

      Hey, watch that, there are children viewing at home…

  7. I didnt’ comment on Sarah Palin and her incessant need to provoke, get attention and make more $$ or the fact she idiotically put that phrase in a prepared speech…

    What I commented on is the gigantic sized cavernous hole which hold your supply of endless egotistical hypocrisy…. for you to complain about anyone using a term reserved for jewish suffering is the height of arrogant hypocrisy…..

    The lie that you float that your somehow unbiased or don’t use the “”rules”” here like the soviet police to threaten, browbeat and protect yourself and your ego is beyond comical….

    I am just amazed at how brazen your ego has gotten that you couldn’t even realize how ridiculous this post makes you look but someone who lives inside his own protected blog after a while believes anything he writes is ordained…..

    1. I only allowed yr previous comment because I thought it would be instructive to allow people to see into the cavernous hole where a mind should be. But apparently you’re lacking one. So I’ll put you out of yr misery & allow you to bellow & whine elsehwere online.

      gigantic sized cavernous hole

      Didn’t any ever tell you when writing less is more? You don’t need to say the same thing twice unless you want people to know that your writing skills are lacking.

      The lie that you float that your somehow unbiased

      I’ve never claimed that I’m “unbiased.” I’m “biased” in favor of justice & human rights for both parties. There, I’ve said it, are you happy. I’m biased in favor of peace between Israel & her Arab neighbors. Go tell that to your friends. ONly quote me correctly.

      BTW, I note that you accused me of calling Israelis Nazis but then couldn’t even respond to my request that you document yr claim. Why is that?

    2. “…she idiotically put that phrase in a prepared speech…”

      You don’t really think Sarah wrote a word of that speech herself, do you? But she is just as culpable by delivering the words someone else wrote for her.

      1. I would actually be somewhat relieved to know that she wrote the speech for herself. As things stand now, there is at least another person as insane & pitiful as she is.

      2. Oh, I think she either picked up the “blood libel” phrase fr. a Jewish supporter or else an evangelical type on her staff is steeped in such Jewish theology/history references. I hear fr. my resident evangelical expert that Palin’s evangelical sect actually thinks of itself as “new Jews” suffering the same way that Jews have suffered except in their case for their Christian faith. So this fits w. her theology.

  8. Mr Silverstein

    After reading all the articles about what happened after Ms Pailin’s remarks, I want to thank you for being the only person to include my grandfathers story as an example of a blood libel,PLUS you included a picture!!

    thanks again

    jay beilis
    grandson of Mendel Beilis

    1. Welcome to my blog and thanks so much for your comment. I remember reading about yr grandfather’s case in Bernard Malamud’s book a long time ago. A riveting story. I was wondering in the Wikipedia photo of the Beilis family whether he’s the person in the center sitting in a chair. WOuld you know?

      1. LOL yes sir , sure I would know all the people in this photo
        they’re my family!!
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Beilis_famaly.jpg

        Mendel is in the center wearing a partial beard, the boy on the far right was my father David , and the little girl in the front is my aunt Rachel who will turn 102 next month

        btw the Fixer is sore subject in my family,soon after my grandfather came to America he wrote his autobiography , some forty years later Malamud lifted whole passages from the original book and called it his own, here is my ana;ysis of the two books

        C:\Users\jay\AppData\Local\Temp\Temp1_jeremy.zip\jeremy.htm

        1. You have made a double error trying to link to your analysis – first you have included a local address in your computer, and second you posted it as plain text, without the appropriate HTML tags. You should upload the file somewhere, Google docs is a free option. When you want to include a link you have to use the following format: text_for_your_link

          where “your_link” is the address and “text_for_your_link” is the readable, clickable text for the link. For example, “My analysis”.

          Hope this helps.

        2. I’m so sorry to hear about what Malamud did to your grandfather’s work. IT wouldn’t be the first time that a great writer took such liberties I’m sorry to say. But nowadays it’s much easier to catch them when they plaigiarize. Malamud wouldn’t have gotten away w. it today.

          1. You might this interesting, these are the words , translate from Hebrew written on his gravestone..

            Here lies interred

            Pay attention to this grave
            Here lies a holy person, a chosen man
            The people of the city of Kiev made him a victim
            And upon all Israel spread the travail
            Falsely accused him and his community of taking the blood of a
            Christian child as demanded by him and his faith for the festival of
            Passover
            They bound him in chains and lowered him into a pit
            Many years he did not see the light of day
            On behalf of all Israel he was harshly tortured
            Pay tribute to this pure and guiltless soul
            Who dwells in the shadow of the Lord in the heights of heaven
            Until those who slumber shall awaken to life
            Mernachem Mendl son of Tuviah Beilis
            Died on 24 Tammuz, 5694
            May his memory be for an eternal blessing
            May his soul be bound in the bond of life eternal

  9. Richard, sorry to be so late to the comments, but thank you for this….

    My arms are tired from literally shoveling snow…

    I read an essay from the Washington Post about Palin’s inner circle and this little presentation which had an interesting perspective.

    What I am looking forward to is her finding some moment to make a “Pro-Israel” speech or even a visit there so she can share her wealth of Alaskan wisdom with ? ? some folks….

    Or I could picture her finding some Orthodox anti-abortion group to take a photo with her ( and as many of her children or siblings she can round up ).

  10. I am a friend of the grandson of Mendel Beilis. There has been ugly video circulating on YouTube slandering Mendel Beilis. Try though we might, we have been unable to get it taken down. After Sarah Palin’s use of the term ‘blood libel’, a new poster called “JudenFree” uploaded the same ugly video on January 11, 2011. These neo-Nazi, white supremists were encouraged to do this by the language Palin used. We are contacting mainstream media outlets to tell the story of Mendel Beilis and what his grandson has had to edure contiuing to see his grandfather slandered and his family name besmirched into the 21st century.

    The Evil Jew Mendel Beilis Who Drained the Blood of a Young Boy Dead **(Uploaded January 11, 2011)**

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szFCwLsp3Gk

    1. So sorry to hear this & that the Beilis family continues to be slandered 100 yrs after Mendel Beilis’ trial. At least people can visit the video to give it a thumbs down & report it for offensive content.

      As far as these neo-Nazis are concerned: Y’mach shmam v’zichronam (“may their names and memories be blotted out”).

      1. We reported an older version of the same video by a different poster who’s account contains other disturbing videos.

        Purim torture, cruel Mendel Beilis, Kiev
        http://www.youtube.com/

        I understand that we have freedom of speech, but when does it cross the line into ‘crying fire in a crowded theater’ territory? Brings all the crazies out of the woodwork.

      1. Actually, for the moment, I want to see it stay up. I am blogging and e-mailing mainstream media, and I want them to see this crap, and start talking about the REAL VICTIM of blood libel. But thanks for your support! Virtual hug!

        1. I no longer feel that any of this White Supremist, neo-Nazi garbage should stay up on youTube. None of the media outlets I contacted have answered, and the rhetoric is heating up in a disturbing way on various mainstream media blogs, in the comments section of mainstream newspapers -to say nothing of the more out there sites that cater to he haters. I keep seeing people talking about “Jews” making trouble for Palin. I am now flagging every video relating to the blood libel, and all the whole accounts of these people who post nothing but scary ne-Nazi filth. The public needs to be educated about the store of Mendel Beilis and the blood libel, without Jay or any member of his family trying to call out Palin directly. We have seen what the kind of hate speech she flings around can do. The nusts come out of the woodwork, and people are harrassed, their property is damaged, or they are beaten and killed.

  11. Well, I am going to stop recommending the Malamud novel to people.
    Ironic, though, my family is full of writers, and several have taken elements of history and fictionalized them, and there have been mixed reactions.
    No matter, I am very grateful for some of the comments here — Thank you, jay and Su-Go ….

  12. My own theory is that Palin’s use of the term “blood libel” is a Freudian slip of sorts. Many of us have long suspected that Palin is indeed a vampire who secretly feeds on the blood of others, and she is now terrified that her cover will be blown. Too late, Sarah – the cat’s out of the bag!

    1. my grandfather is buried in Queens NY

      My apologies to Mr Silverstein , I’m not trying to hijack his thread, just thought a few folks here might be interested to know that the phrase ” blood libel” affected actual people and the descendants are still around

      1. I certainly don’t mean to answer for Mr. Silverstein, but if anyone has a right to comment on this thread, you do. You are a direct descendant of Mendel Beilis!

  13. Arizona Shooting Victim Criticizes Palin, Beck and Fox News
    http://mediamatters.org/blog/201101140044

    One of the victims of the Arizona shooting today criticized the violent rhetoric employed by Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and Fox News.

    Eric Fuller, a 63-year-old Navy veteran who was shot in the knee and received fragments in the back last Saturday, said the rhetoric of Sarah Palin and others can impact “demented” people like suspect Jared Loughner.

    Fuller, who said he has been interviewed by several national news outlets, added he would not appear on Fox News if they sought him, predicting it “might develop into a screaming session.” He added: “I don’t like what they’re selling.”……

    …..Fuller went on to harshly criticize Palin:

    “Sarah Palin doesn’t bother to learn the spelling of repudiate and tosses out ‘blood libel’ like it was a jar of peanut butter, but does she know anything? Probably about as much as (former Giffords opponent) Jesse Kelly.”……

  14. I rescinded my recommendation of the Malamud book (on a friend’s blog in a comment) and tried to post a link to this thread with encouragement for everyone to read the comments.

    One of the beauties of blogging is the commentary (sometimes!) ~

    I would really like to read Mendel’s book.

    Jay, thanks for posting, and warm regards to your family (young and old and in-between) !

    1. Again thanks for your interest, obviously my grandfather’s book is long out of print ( some copies are available on Amazon ) however I’m planning on re-issuing it over the summer which will include our analysis of the two books plus a chapter on my thoughts on me being the grandson of Mendel Beilis

      http://www.cardozolawreview.com/content/denovo/BEILIS_2010_225.pdf

      (not sure if this works) any five year old is better at the computer than me

  15. I think the Pulitzer committee should rescind its awarding of that honor to the Malamud book.

    Whether they have ever done that before, is immaterial (irrelevant?), and my authority in this matter is microscopic, but I think a well-organized campaign might succeed.

    Jay, the link to the Cardozo Review worked for me !

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