In recent years, there have been a number of antisemitic accusations of Israel harvesting organs of Palestinians, including during the post-Oct. 7 period. These claims are a modern iteration of the age-old antisemitic blood libel, which alleges that Jews used the blood of Christian children to make Matzah for Passover. Ironically, such accusations have surfaced even when Israel was providing humanitarian aid, as in the case of Haiti after it had been struck by an earthquake in 2010.
Since the Oct. 7 massacre perpetrated by Hamas and the subsequent Israeli military action in Gaza, some anti-Israel voices in the Middle East, Europe, Australia and the United States have been using cartoons and social media posts to accuse Israel of stealing organs from Palestinians killed in Gaza, and to claim that “child murder” was a preferred “ritual” for Israel, with babies being a “favorite target.” Several depicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as consuming Palestinian blood, while others used imagery of bleeding babies to play up charges of blood libel.
Notably, the wide range of voices making such allegations – from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health, and Muslim clerics, to US far left activists and European self-described human rights groups – illustrates the persistency of this age-old antisemitic canard across the religious, geographic and political spectrums.
Here are recent examples of iterations of blood libel accusations:
The cartoon’s title: “The Occupation Steals the Martyrs’ Organs.”
