Hamas Spokesman Makes Controversial "Blood Libel" Comments
BERMAN: The 72-hour cease-fire in the Middle East does appear to be holding, but I think it is safe to say the hatred lingers.</s>PEREIRA: Here's a case in point, the public face of Hamas recently said quote, "We all remember how the Jews used to slaughter Christians in order to mix their blood in their holy matzos. This is not a figment of imagination or something taken from a film. It is a fact, acknowledged by their own books and historical evidence." Osama Hamdan is referencing to a story that began in the Middle Ages and was used to stir up hatred and violence against Jews.</s>BERMAN: It's been used for more than a thousand years to stir up hatred. And in some case to persecute Jews. Our Wolf Blitzer asked Osama Hamdan if he stands by those comments.</s>WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, "THE SITUATION ROOM": I just want to be specific, and just answer the question, maybe I will remind you what you said. I am going to play it in Arabic, here is what you said on el quds</s>TV -- OSAMA HAMDAN, HAMAS SPOKESMAN: Wolf, I know what I've said. Wolf, I know.</s>BLITZER: Just listen to this and then you'll explain what you mean.</s>HAMDAN: I know - You don't know --</s>BLITZER: Let's play the tape. HAMDAN (via translation) : We all remember how the Jews used to slaughter Christians, in order to mix their blood in their holy matzos. This is not a figment of imagination or something taken from a film. It is a fact, acknowledged by their own books and historical evidence.</s>BLITZER: So do you believe that Jews used to slaughter Christians to mix their blood to --</s>HAMDAN: Excuse me. You have to ask that for the -- which claims that. You know, this is the fact, you cut the words. Not you, the Israelis. In memory, they cut the facts and they start this propaganda to say that they are innocent. They want to cover the genocide which is happening in Gaza now. They want to cover themselves when they are killing 2,000 Palestinians, injuring more than 12,000 Palestinians, in a barbarian attack against Gaza and they are connected to the same old mentality which held the others. This man, who is the deputy speaker, this Knesset, when he says, we have to put all the Palestinians in a concentration camp, what does it mean? When you -- when you talk about -- you can go there, who wrote Palestinians, genocide is permissible. What does it mean? Those people are the people who are hating humanity while trying to kill the Palestinians. We don't have a problem with the Jews as they are Jewish people. In fact we believe in Moses, we believe in Jesus, we believe in Mohammed. We respect them all -- the three of them the same, and we believe that everyone has the right to choose his religion. No one will be questioned by the other humans for his religion. God will ask us all. No one is asked because of his race. The races are the same. We are all from Adam, but the people who are talking about genocide against the Palestinians must be questioned and asked because they are saying that and doing that at the same time.</s>BLITZER: We're going to leave it there, Mr. Hamdan. But I was hoping to get a flat denial from you that you would utter such ridiculous words, that Jews would kill Christians in order to use their blood to bake matzos. That sounds, as you know, that is an awful, awful smear.</s>HAMDAN: Wolf, Wolf, you have to be fair. You can't end that. I must end that, because you asked me and I want to answer. This was said by everyone. I was saying they are part of what was being said. He has to deny what he writes about the Palestinians, about the genocide against the Palestinians, which he called for, which he suggested to do as a member in the parliament or as a senior leader in the party.</s>BLITZER: All right.</s>BERMAN: You see right there, Wolf gave him every chance to deny, to repudiate, to explain his comments, but the official spokesperson for Hamas didn't do this. There is a name for this, it is called blood libel, it has been around since the Middle Ages, and still amongst -- a Hamas official, still very much, clearly, alive today.</s>PEREIRA: Well, earlier on "NEW DAY", right here on CNN, Bobby Ghosh, the managing editor of qz.com, spoke about those inflammatory comments and how they could hurt the peace process. Take a listen to this.</s>BOBBY GHOSH, MANAGING EDITOR, QZ.COM: It's not surprising if you spend time in Palestine. The idea of blood libel is very commonly accepted by a lot of Palestinians. Mainly because they don't know any better. They are taught that when they are very young and don't have the opportunity to correct themselves. Now Hamdan doesn't have that excuse. He's an educated man, exposed to the world outside. He certainly has had plenty of opportunity to fact check himself. The fact that he still says things like this -</s>KATE BOLDUAN, HOST, "NEW DAY": And saying it right now in the middle of all this --</s>GHOSH: To an international audience. It just shows you the extent of the hate - Mind you, it cuts both ways, there are people on the Palestinian side who have been calling for-- there's people on the Israeli side who have been calling for Palestinian mothers to be killed, for Palestinian women to be raped, for concentration camps. So that amount of hate is enormous.</s>BOLDUAN: I do want to get to that. But the fact that he's bringing up the blood libel, which has such a painful history with the Jewish people. This accusation, this ridiculous thought, dates back to like the 12th century and has been the pretext for violence against the Jewish people forever.</s>GHOSH: It is the root of anti-Semitism. It has been the root of anti-Semitism in Europe, this concept of blood libel. And it is non- sense. But in the Arab world and particularly in Palestine --</s>BOLDUAN: What does it get him?</s>GHOSH: It's a dog whistle to his own people. I have to assume that Hamdan knows better, I have to assume that given the exposure to the world he knows it's not true. The fact that he keeps saying things like this and not deny it when he has had an opportunity to do so has got to be a dog whistle to his own people back in Gaza. Remember, he's not in Gaza. He's outside the political leadership outside. They're out of touch with the man in the street. This -- the only halfway rational, and it's not very rational, explanation I can think of, is this is his trying to make some kind of connection back to the streets in Gaza. It is completely counterproductive. As you point out, this is not the way you approach the negotiating table.</s>PEREIRA: Bobby Ghosh put it very well.