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Official Bias
Saudi paper's blood libel is blasted
by U.S. and Jewish leaders.
JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent
I
t was a sock in the communal
solar plexus; Jewish groups
around the country reacted
with outrage to last week's news
that a semi-official newspaper in Saudi
Arabia — the Muslim state most
courted by the Bush administration as
it prepares for the next phase in the
war against terrorism — had pub-
lished an article describing the use of
human blood in Purim pastries.
The blood libel in AI-Riyadh also
grabbed the attention of the U.S. gov-
ernment. On Tuesday, the Voice of
America began broadcasting an edito-
rial in the region calling on the Saudi
government to "stop newspapers and
radio and television stations — espe-
cially those controlled by the state —
from inciting hatred and violence
against Jews."
The editorial — described in the
broadcast as expressing official U.S.
positions — described the article's
contents as "outrageous, anti-Semitic
lies."
"No one who is not blinded by hate
for Jews could ever believe such non-
sense," it continued. But the fact that
the author was a well-known doctor at
King Faisal University — and that it
was published in a major newspaper
— "helps make her lies sound credi-
ble. Surely, this is not the way to pro-
mote peace between Arabs and Jews."
Jewish groups were happy with the
unusually public and swift U.S.
response. "I'm quite pleased," said Jess
Hordes, Washington director for the
Anti-Defamation League, a group that
has been lobbying the Bush adminis-
tration for a tougher response to rising
anti-Semitism in the Arab and Islamic
world.
"It's a strong statement that conveys
the official position of the United
Stats in an open and clear way. I hope
this is part of an ongoing effort by the
United States to point out the evil of
promoting vile hate."
Aid Boosted
The Bush administration has
announced it will do what Jewish
groups have urged for years: increase
the nation's overall foreign aid level.
Pro-Israel leaders welcomed the
change, even though it will not direct-
ly affect Israel, by far the biggest U.S.
aid recipient. At the same time, Jewish
leaders dismissed news reports suggest-
ing that a plan for additional aid for
Israel had been axed by the Bush
administration because of objections
to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's recent
crackdown onthe Palestinians.
In fact, the $800 million in extra
aid, first proposed in the last months
of the Clinton administration, was
never on the table.
"Contrary to many published
reports, Israel was not pushing for
extra aid, nor were pro-Israel-groups,"
said a leading Jewish activist. "The
idea that the administration was pun-
ishing Israel by blocking aid is nothing
but spin."
Last week, President George W
Bush announced that he will request
an extra $5 billion in aid over three
year, starting in Fiscal Year 2004, as
well as a "New Compact for
Development," intended to speed the
delivery of assistance to needy areas.
The White House announcement
came on the eve of a United Nations
conference on aid in Monterrey,
Mexico. Bush is scheduled to address
the conference on Friday, March 22
— and the increase was widely seen as
an attempt to defuse international
pique.
Critics complain that as a percentage
of gross domestic product, U.S. aid
lags far behind aid from other devel-
oped nations. According to an analysis
by the Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities, aid funding for 2002 and
2003 as a share of the federal budget
"are the lowest level since World War
II."
U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., the
ranking Democrat on the Foreign
Operations Appropriations
Committee, welcomed the increase,
but said it should come sooner.
"Unfortunately, the practical impact
of the president's proposal will not be
felt for at least two years," she said in a
statement. "That's simply too little,
too late. The need to increase
resources to fight disease, improve
education, combat poverty, prevent
WASHINGTON WATCH on page 24
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