Showing either: abysmal ignorance of the Jewish religion which absolutely prohibits the consumption of blood in any form, or perverse incitement to anti-Judaism, a columnist from the state-controlled Saudi newspaper Al-Jazirah recently re-asserted the claim that Jews use human blood in baked goods when preparing for holiday celebrations, according to a translation of the column by the Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI, an independent, nonprofit organization that analyzes the media of the Middle East.

The writer, Dr. Muhammad bin S'ad Al-Shwey'ir, is a past adviser to former Saudi mufti Sheikh Abdallah bin Baz and editor-in-chief of the Islamic Research periodical published by the Islamic Clerics Association of Saudi Arabia.

The charge that Jews use human blood in baking first arose in 1840, when the Damascus Jewish community was accused of murdering a priest and his assistant to obtain their blood for making Passover matzo, or unleavened bread.

"Christian Europe showed enmity toward the Jews when it transpired that their rabbis craftily hunt anyone walking alone, [tempting] him to enter their house of worship," Al-Shwey'ir wrote. "Then they take his blood to use for baked goods for their holidays, as part of their ritual. Often this deed was uncovered even in the Arab and Islamic countries that protected them... When these incidents proliferated, the security apparatuses began to follow them, until they caught their rabbis committing the crime."

Continued Al-Shwey'ir, "Furthermore, they have played a significant role in toppling and corrupting many of the governments, to the point where this became known among the Arabs, the Germans, the Spanish, the Portuguese and others."

Al-Shwey'ir warns the West that it must support Islam over Judaism:

"The free world must take notice ― primarily the West and America, where the intentions of the Jews have been revealed ― as they gnaw away at the societies like the worm gnaws away at the wood until it is entirely consumed before signs [of the damage] are [visible]. [The West and America] must awaken and must support the Muslims against them [i.e. the Jews] before it is too late."

The columnist then appeals to "A Handbook on the Jewish Question," a book of anti-Semitic propaganda published in 1935 by Nazi Germany that contains supposed statements of American founding father Benjamin Franklin. Not an expert in American history, Al-Shwey'ir gives Franklin the title of "president."

"Do the Americans ― both rulers and ruled ― realize that these are the thoughts and conspiracies [of the Jews] towards the human race? If not, they must take another look at what their President [sic] Benjamin Franklin said when he warned the American people of the danger posed by the Jews, in his speech at the conference convened to declare the American Constitution in 1789..."

In a previous article, Al-Shwey'ir wrote, "...Allah decreed that the Jews would be humiliated; he cursed them, and turned them into apes and pigs. Every time they ignite the fire of war, Allah extinguishes it. They disseminate corruption over the face of the earth, and fight the believers [i.e. the Muslims] only from fortified villages or from behind walls..."