Special Dispatch - Saudi Arabia/Arab Antisemitism
April 11, 2003
No. 494

Author of Saudi Blood Libel and Professor at King Faysal University Lectures
at Arab League Think Tank: 'U.S. War on Iraq Timed To Coincide With Jewish
Holiday Purim'

On April 9, 2003, Dr. Umayma Jalahma briefed the Arab League's "Center for
Coordination and Follow-Up" and claimed that the U.S. war in Iraq was timed
to coincide with the Jewish holiday Purim. Dr. Jalahma, a professor of
Islamic Studies at Saudi Arabia's King Faysal University, made headlines
last year when she claimed that Jews use human blood to make pastries for
the Purim holiday. In an article published in the Saudi daily Al-Riyadh on
March 12, 2002, Dr. Jalahma wrote about "the Jewish holiday of Purim... for
this holiday, the Jewish people must obtain human blood so that their
clerics can prepare the holiday pastries... that affords the Jewish vampires
great delight as they carefully monitor every detail of the blood-shedding
with pleasure... After this barbaric display, the Jews take the spilled
blood, in the bottle set in the bottom [of the needle-studded barrel], and
the Jewish cleric makes his coreligionists completely happy on their holiday
when he serves them the pastries in which human blood is mixed."(1)

Following MEMRI's release of a translation of this article, Vice President
Dick Cheney, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, and White House
Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, criticized the Saudi government and press.
Subsequently, Dr. Jalahma was prevented from writing for Al-Riyadh, but
began writing for Al-Watan, another Saudi daily.

The "Zayed Center for Coordination and Follow-Up" was established by the
Arab League in 1999. Notable speakers at the Center include former vice
president Al Gore, former secretary of state James Baker, Professor Shibley
Telhami of the University of Maryland, former president of Austria and
former UN secretary-general Kurt Waldheim, President of the Arab-American
Institute James Zogby, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, former assistant
secretary of state for the Middle East Richard Murphy, President of the
Middle East Institute Edward Walker, and Lyndon Larouche. Recent events at
the Center include a lecture by French intellectual Theirry Meyssan, author
of "The Appalling Fraud," in which he accused the U.S. military of
involvement in the September 11 terrorist attacks; the Saudi Gazette quoted
Meyssan as stating at the event, "...[Those] who masterminded the operations
and led them were American terrorists."(2)

Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter also lectured at the Center and,
according to the Zayed Center's summary of the event, which took place on
February 8, 2003, Ritter "concluded his lecture, saying that what is
happening now in the United Sates [i.e. the planning of the war in Iraq] is
due to the fact that this country [the U.S.] is administered by extremists,
after the elections of 2000, describing this as a kind of coup d'etat
against the American values and principles."

The following is the summary provided by the Zayed Center of Dr. Jalahma's
lecture:

'The American War on Iraq Started in March to Concur with Purim'

"[Dr. Jalahma] said that the American war on Iraq started in March to concur
with Purim Feast, often celebrated in this month, which symbolizes the
Jewish victory over Haman in Babylon [sic]."

'Imminent' Civil War in Israel

"[Dr. Jalahma] indicated that some Zionist parties which believe that the
oriental Jews (Sephardim) must stay within the Palestinian borders because,
[like] the Arabs, are inferior to the Western Jews (Ashkenazim), according
to their claims. She expected an imminent civil war, now under the make, in
the Israeli society due to denominational, sectarian, and ethnic splits."

'Zionist Ambitions to Establish a World State'

"[Dr. Jalahma] stated the invading forces have begun to distribute the
spoils and booties in Iraq, disregarding the painful cries and woes of the
Iraqi children. She considered the Israeli plan to rehabilitate the oil
pipeline that once linked Haifa to Mosul, in the north of Iraq, as a sound
evidence of the greedy ambitions of these countries (the Zionist Anglo-Saxon
alliance) in Iraq and the other Arab countries. She also indicated that no
one can curb the Zionist ambitions to establish a world state whose economic
and political aspirations have no limits."

On the Zionist and American Media Campaigns vs. the Arab and Muslim World

"[Dr. Jalahma] added that Zionism and some Western circles have been active
to defame the Arab and Muslim image, and to conceal truth and facts relating
to the Arab and Muslim history. She called for condensed efforts to counter
this campaign and to improve the Arab and Muslim image in the West."

On the 'Exploitation of the Jewish Woman... She is Still Denied Her Rights
as a Human Being... She is Even Deprived of Her Children'

"In another context, [Dr. Jalahma] said that the Jewish woman is politically
and socially oppressed by the Jewish fundamentalists and secularists alike,
mentioning that the Jewish woman lives in a miserable condition that
requires the intervention of the international humanitarian organization to
protect her. The Jewish woman, she said, has been exploited and used for
political purposes, and despite her noticeable contribution to the building
of the Zionist society, she is still denied her rights as a human being.
Injustice and oppression weigh heavily on her everywhere in society,
particularly the Kibbutz, or the collective farms where she is even deprived
of her children and extensively indoctrinated the Zionist principles."(3)

Endnotes:
(1) Please see MEMRI past dispatches on this subject:
Special Dispatch Series - No. 357 - March 21, 2002, Editor of Saudi
Government Daily Al-Riyadh: Statement on 'Purim' Blood Libel Articles:
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP35702.
Special Dispatch Series - No. 354 - March 13, 2002, Saudi Government Daily:
Jews Use Teenagers' Blood for 'Purim' Pastries:
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP35402.
Press Release - No. 1 - March 18, 2002, Press Release on Article in Saudi
Government Daily: Jews Use Teenagers' Blood for Purim' Pastries:
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=countries&Area=saudiarabia&ID=PR102.
(2) MEMRI Special Dispatch - No. 383 - May 23, 2002, Arab League Think Tank
Hosts Event: U.S. Military behind September 11:
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP38302.
(3) http://www.zccf.org.ae/e_TitleDescription.asp?Tid=477, April 9, 2003.

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