In a shocking anti-Semitic incident on Wednesday, hundreds of blood libel flyers were found posted on homes in the Russian city of Novosibirsk, warning parents to protect their children from bloodthirsty Jews ahead of Pessah.
A woodcut showing Jews performing a ritual to extract a Christian child's blood. These prints were popular in Germany and the Netherlands in the 15th Century.
Photo: Courtesy
"Attention, Russian parents," the flyers read, "guard your children as April 2008 approaches, [and with it] the Jewish holiday of Pessah."
The flyers warned that "these disgusting [people] steal young children, draw their blood and use it to prepare their holy food. The children's bodies, they throw in the garbage dumps."
Novosibirsk, located in eastern Russia, has a Jewish population of some 13,000. It is Russia's third largest city.
Israel Radio said that a Jewish Agency envy reported the leaflets to police and said residents of city had expressed their shock.
Local police subsequently opened an investigation into the distribution of the flyers.
There have been a number of anti-Semitic incidents in Russia recently, including violent attacks on Jews, desecration of Jewish graves and derogatory graffiti.
There has also recently been a marked increase in Russian hate crimes in general. From December 2007 to February 2008, 37 people have been killed and 114 wounded in such offenses as opposed to 27 murders over a similar period last year.
The majority of the murders have been carried out in Moscow and most have been
committed against central Asian immigrants.
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