The Syrian-produced Hezbollah TV series Al-Shatat, which ran earlier this year during Ramadan, represents a long line of Syrian blood libels. In the 20th episode of Al-Shatat, a “rabbi” states, “we want the blood of a Christian child before Passover, for the matzos.” A neighborhood boy named Nathan, who looks to be about eight years old, is brought into the room, his throat is slit as he cries “Mama, Mama” and his blood is poured into a metal basin. The next scene has the rabbi wishing a “Jewish man” a good Passover and offering him matzo–”tastier and holier because it was kneaded with pure blood.”
Twenty-one years earlier, Syrian Minister of Defense Field Marshall Mustafa Tlass, who is considered one of the pillars of the Syrian Baathist regime, released the first edition of his book The Matzah of Zion. The 1983 book retold the notorious Damascus Blood Libel of 1840 in which the Jewish community in Damascus was accused of murdering a Christian priest named Toma, and his servant, to use their blood in making matzahs.
The second edition of Tlass’s book was published in 1986 with added footnotes and pictures, including one of the tombstone of Father Toma’s grave with an inscription indicating that he was killed by Jews. Tlass’s book has become influential in international antisemitic circles as a reliable source of information about Jewish ritual murder and has been published in multiple languages, including French and Italian.
By 2002, Tlass’s book had been reprinted eight times, and was one of the most popular books at the Syrian Book Fair that year. According to its publisher, the reason for its popularity is “the will of the next generation to know about the Jews, how they harm Arabs and others.” Tlass explained that in each reprint he will add new documents “which will shed light [on] the distortion of the Torah [by the Jews] and on criminal Jewish religious rituals.” Similarly, in the 1986 edition’s introduction, citing the Koran, Tlass wrote, “I intend to illuminate some of the secrets of the Jewish religion by describing the actions of the Jews…and the implementation of the Talmudic precepts compiled in the Diaspora by their rabbis who distorted the principles of the Jewish belief.”
In 2001 it was reported in the Egyptian media that Tlass’s book will be made into a movie in which he will receive five percent of its profits. The movie’s producer will be Egyptian Munir Radhi and the Egyptian cast will reportedly be led by Omar Sharif. According to Radhi, the primary goal of the movie is “to respond to all the Zionist films distracted by the American film industry” notably Schindler’s List. During a 2003 interview, Tlass explained that his book is not antisemitic and compared such charges to those against French Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy, because “world Zionism opposes anyone who speaks the truth.”
Following the airing of Al-Shatat this year there has been a growing movement in Europe to block Hezbollah TV. In late 2003, Australia was the first Western nation to announce the suspension of Al-Manar from its airwaves following a government viewing of Al-Shatat and with a subsequent investigation of the channel alleging criminal activities of broadcasting programs that “perpetuate hatred against or gratuitously vilify any person or group.”
France announced in February 2004 that it is also considering banning Al-Manar. Le Monde reported that following the French prime minister’s viewing of Al-Shatat, he stated that the government would take action to stop its broadcasting. Earlier, in November 2000 a French court subpoenaed the editor of the Egyptian government paper Al-Ahram for printing a blood libel strikingly similar to the one told by Tlass.
During a session of parliament in Sweden on March 18, 2004, in reference to Al-Shatat, Parliamentarian Mikael Oscarsson of the Christian Democratic party asked Prime Minister Göran Persson to put an end to Al-Manar broadcasts in Sweden which are “appalling propaganda of incitement” that “can only be compared with that of the Nazis.”
While the U.S. condemned the series during its airing as spokeswoman for the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Rhonda Shore, stated, “Such venomous antisemitism has absolutely no place in the civilized world,” there is no government effort to block Al-Manar in the U.S. Surprisingly, during an Al-Manar broadcast on December 14, 2003, it was reported that Hezbollah TV actually has a correspondent stationed in Washington, D.C. Al-Manar’s website is also hosted in the U.S. by a company in Hoboken, New Jersey.
–Steven Stalinsky is executive director of MEMRI. To view the video of Al-Shatat, visit here.