The Jews being the source of disease is an old charge that has persisted for centuries across the world. Following the outbreak of the swine flu, anti-Semites wasted little time in accusing the Jews of spreading the virus.
In Egypt, prominent cleric and government official Sheikh Ali Osman issued a Fatwa stating that the since the Jews are the source of all the pigs, they are therefore the source of the swine flu. Osman noted that because of their Jewish background, all the Jews in the world may be slaughtered.
Numerous cartoons comparing the Jews to the swine flu were found in many prominent Arab newspapers, where drawings of Israeli politicians portrayed as pigs were common.
The Jews are charged with spreading the swine flu in the Western world as well. For instance, Dutch journalist Désirée Röver has claimed that the swine flu is a Jewish conspiracy to reduce the world population.
In 2004, a rumor circulated in Saudi Arabia that the Jews were infecting Saudi melons with the HIV virus. An urgent cell phone text message was sent out to Saudis, that warned to steer clear from purchasing melons that may be traced to Israel. Due to the allegation that the Jews had used melons as a tool to spread the AIDS in the past, this created considerable panic in Arab society.
Blaming the Jews for diseases is nothing new. During the middle ages, the Jews were baselessly blamed for poisoning the wells. These rumors would result in riots and massacres against the Jews of Europe. In Nazi Germany, propaganda, such as the movie The Eternal Jew, depicted the Jews as filthy rat-like creatures that spread disease.
