Mustafa Tlass is an anti-Semitic Syrian politician. While serving as the Syrian minister of defense from 1972 to 2004, he gained international attention for writing and publishing a book accusing Jews of blood libel.
In his book, titled The Matzoh of Zion, Mustafa Tlass charges the Jews of Damascus in taking part in a ritual murder of Arabs. The Matzoh of Zion is based on a false rumor that circulated in 1840, which led to massacres and torture of Jews throughout the Arab world. According to the mythical claim, Jews killed a Christian priest and his aide in order to obtain their blood, which was necessary for the ritual making of Mazoh for Passover.
The first edition of The Matzoh of Zion was published in 1983. Since then, there have been at least 8 editions released, with new material added. One of the new chapters, titled "The Young Martyr of Prague", resurrects a fifteenth century blood libel legend from Prague. The book still remains very popular in Syria.
The book is full of anti-Semitic statements. Tlass frequently describes the Jewish people and religion as wicked. Tlass writes that "here too, it must be said that both Western and Eastern societies were way ahead of Arab Islamic countries in discovering the Jewish ideology, and its hidden contents of destructive evil."
When inquired about the book, the Syrian embassy in Washington simply replied that ''Syria is against Zionism, not Judaism.'' Tlass himself rejected any charges of racism of anti-Semitism, also stating that his work is merely critical of Israel and Zionism, as opposed to the Jewish people. Ironically, most of the book does not focus all that much on the modern state of Israel, but instead attempts to prove ancient anti-Semitic legends to be true.
The investigation revealed serious matters that surpassed the crime itself as to the nature and motives connected with the Jewish teaching, prescribed by the Talmud, which contained destructive deviations guided by black hatred of humanity and all other religions equally, and together.
