ABC News
An aide close to Sarah Palin says death threats and security threats have increased to an unprecedented level since the shooting in Arizona, and the former Alaska governor’s team has been talking to security professionals.
Palin has taken much heat for her “crosshairs” map that targeted 20 congressional Democrats in the 2010 mid-term election, including that of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was the main target of Saturday’s attack.
Friends say Palin, a possible 2012 contender, was galled as suggestions of her role in the tragedy have swirled.
Palin responded in detail today to the attacks leveled against her, but while her intentions may have been to shift the blame away from herself, she instead put her in the hot seat again.
“Journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn,” she said in an early morning Facebook post today.
The term “blood libel” has been used historically to falsely accuse Jews of using Christian children’s blood to prepare their Passover matzoh. The myth is said to have begun in Europe as early as the 12th century, perpetuated by the death of a small boy in England in 1144.
It’s a term that Jews say has been used to incite anti-Semitism and justify violence against them for centuries.
Palin’s use of the word has triggered some deep emotions, even among those who believe Palin has been a target of unfair criticism since the Tucson shooting.
The Jewish Fund for Justice assailed Palin for abusing a tragic episode in Jewish history.
“We are deeply disturbed” by her commentary, president Simon Greer said in a statement today. “Unless someone has been accusing Ms. Palin of killing Christian babies and making matzoh from their blood, her use of the term is totally out of line.”
The National Jewish Democratic Council called the video a step in the wrong direction.
“This is of course a particularly heinous term for American Jews, given that the repeated fiction of blood libels are directly responsible for the murder of so many Jews across centuries — and given that blood libels are so directly intertwined with deeply ingrained anti-Semitism around the globe, even today,” it said in a statement.
“The last thing the country needs now is for the rhetoric in the wake of this tragedy to return to where it was before,” liberal group J Street said in a statement. “We hope that Governor Palin will recognize, when it is brought to her attention, that the term ‘blood libel’ brings back painful echoes of a very dark time in our communal history when Jews were falsely accused of committing heinous deeds.”
But not all Jews are offended by the term. Liberal political commentator and Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz pointed out that the term has been used frequently as a metaphor and in a broader context.
“The term ‘blood libel’ has taken on a broad metaphorical meaning in public discourse,” he said in a statement to biggovernment.com. “I myself have used it to describe false accusations against the State of Israel by the Goldstone Report. There is nothing improper and certainly nothing anti-Semitic in Sarah Palin using the term to characterize what she reasonably believes are false accusations that her words or images may have caused a mentally disturbed individual to kill and maim.”
Wild Thing’s comment………
I am so sick and tired of the liberals. They better be ready with the repercussions if anything happens to Sarah. The Media and everyone on the left are pushing something that is pure evil and could cause a war on our soil and they will be the ones to blame for it. They are stocking the flames. Idiots do not have any idea what they are doing.
The liberals and the media lit a dangerous fuse this week, trying to place blame, without any facts or connections!!!
Sarah is under strong attack and needs strong prayers for protection.
1) Non-politically motivated killer shoots Democrat Rep; kills several others.
2) Liberal media seeks out someone to blame. Targets (pun intended) Palin, Limbuagh and Beck (the usual scapegoats) as racists, haters and, therefore, responsible motivators for whack-a-doodle gunman.
3) Liberal media spews unsubstantiated “facts” about conservative scapegoats named above on every “news” broadcast. Calls them hatemongers and irresponsibe in their views. Says they are responsible, however, for inciting people to violence against whomever is the group of the day (blacks, homosexuals, liberals, illegal border crossers, etc..). Interestingly, death threats and actual violence against the group of the day do not rise even though Palin, Limbaugh and Beck are frequently heard on the TV, radio, etc.
4) Death threats against Palin rise sharply.
5) Therefore, I conclude the irresponsible reporting by the liberal media is more likely to result in violence than any of those the libs blame. If Sarah is attacked, it WILL be much more likely the attacker was motivated by false facts and incitement by liberal media.
The liberals must be really afraid of Sarah Palin’s potential political power. They attack her for every imaginable reason or event. I hope she continues to drive them nuts.
As I have said here before: the left is the other religion of peace. Has anyone else noticed how both religions of peace love to blame other people for someone else’s actions?
Your right MrHappy, it justifies theie violence.
MrHappy hit the nail right on the head.
Al Qaeda is rolling on the floor laughing at the mess going on here and it didn’t cost them a dime… I’m begining to wonder what gives we were in Sedona when the shooting took place.. The last time we were in Sedona they blew up Oklahoma city…Back home in Idaho on Friday…
Thank you everyone!
MrHappy, that is exactly what it is, your so right.