The Blood Libel Is Very Old, but the Term Is Surprisingly New

Although it’s no laughing matter when Israel is accused of atrocious crimes, I had to smile the other day when its Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar described a report of “the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel” as a “blood label.” One might have hoped for a higher level of literacy from Israel’s number one diplomat.

Still, Sa’ar’s blooper made me wonder. Where does the term “blood libel” come from? By whom was it first used and when?

What I learned surprised me. The accusation that Jews kill Christians, especially Christian children, to use their blood in religious ceremonies such as the baking of their Passover matzah is old. From its first appearance in 1144, when the body of a Christian boy found outside the English town of Norwich was ascribed to a Jewish ritual murder, there have been more than 150 similar incidents in European history; most are well-documented, having led to police investigations, trials, interventions by high authorities, and public uproars. Yet were this to lead one to think that the English term “blood libel,” or its equivalent in other European languages, must be old too, one would be mistaken. “Blood libel” is actually, it turns out, a recent coinage, almost certainly less than a hundred years old.