The following cartoon appeared in Al Ahram, a leading Egyptian newspaper, on April 21st 2001.
The cartoon shows two Israeli soldiers broadly grinning as they throw a helpless child labeled "The Palestinian People" into a meat-grinder. The resulting blood is drunk by Jews, one of whom resembles former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who call out "Cheers to peace".
According to Dr Joel Kotek, director of training at the Center for Contemporary Jewish Documentation in Paris, the theme of the blood-thirsty Jew in Arab cartoons "originates in Christian anti-Semitism. The Christian anti-Semitic libel alleged the Jews needed Christian blood for their Passover service. Its claim is that the Jew is evil, as his religion forces him to drink blood. In today's Arab world this image of unbridled hatred has mutated into the alleged quest for Palestinian blood."
