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:
Al-Masry Al-Yawm, December 14, 2023 (Egypt)
The cartoon’s title: “The Occupation Steals the Martyrs’ Organs.”
Al-Ghad, January 6, 2024 (Jordan)
Al-Masry Al-Yawm, January 5, 2024 (Egypt)
UK-based self-described “investigative journalist” Sulaiman Ahmed X post:
Cartoonist Bob Moran X post:
Journalist Aaron Maté: “Child murder is among the most favored rituals of the ‘Israel has the right to defend itself’ death cult.” [link]
Australian Imam Ahmad Zoud during sermon: “The most important trait of Jews is that they are bloodthirsty.”
Graffitti in Sydney, Australia: “Jews kill kids.”
Swedish-Algerian Journalist Yayha Abu Zakariya repeated the age-old allegation that Jews used the blood of Christian children to make Matzah for Passover:
Electronic Intifada Director Ali Abunimah X post: “Along with babies, journalists are one of the favorite targets of these cowardly Ziochopaths.”
Poet Mohammed El-Kurd X post: “tell a zionist it’s not ok to slaughter children then boom they throw a temper tantrum.”
The Gaza Government Media Office reports that the Israeli army violated the corpses of 80 Palestinians, delivering them mutilated with stolen organs.
Both UK-based self-described “investigative journalist” Sulaiman Ahmed and The Gray Zone News propagated allegations by Euro-Med and the Gaza Health Ministry whereby Israel harvested organs from Gazans.
Mondowiess similarly propagated these accusations of “maimed bodies being returned by Israeli force, with evidence of alleged organ harvesting.”
A truck in NYC with the sign: “Israel steals Palestinian organs.”
The Gray Zone News Editor Max Blumenthal X post: “Has Israel kidnapped Shifa hospital director Muhammad Abu Salmiya as punishment for exposing the Israeli military’s theft of bodies from the hospital’s morgue & courtyard? Will it use the stolen bodies to construct a new lie, or do something even more gruesome - like organ theft?”
Gigi Hadid shared a reel video accusing Israel of harvesting organs of dead Palestinians.
