Sarah Palin's newest Facebook page video scolds critics who say her high firepower rhetoric could have contributed to Saturday's Arizona shooting rampage. But her use of an emotionally-charged phrase has spawned a controversy all its own.
Palin called herself the victim of "blood libel" — the original term for blaming Jews for the death of Christ and an anti-Semitic rallying call that led to countless deaths of Jews, primarily in Europe and Russia.
Many rabbis called her remarks insensitive, ill-chosen and offensive to Holocaust survivors and other victims of anti-Semitism.
Palin's new video "was like waving a red flag," said Rabbi David Sapperstein, executive director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. "It concerns us. It escalates the intensity of the rhetoric, rather than calming it down. It seems to me she's missed an opportunity at real leadership."
Palin aide Rebecca Mansour said the former Alaska governor stands by her video.
"There has been an incredible increase in death threats against Gov. Palin since the tragedy in Arizona, since she's been accused of having the blood of those victims on her hands," Mansour said. "When you start to accuse people of having the blood of innocent people on their hands, it incites violence."
Most of those accusations start with a map Palin posted this fall that has since been removed. It put cross-hair symbols on a map of congressional districts Palin wanted to see turn Tea Party-style Republican in the mid-term elections.
All weekend, the nation watched replays of a video from this fall in which U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who police called the target of Saturday's shootings, express concern that her district was "targeted."
But Mansour told a radio host Monday, "We never, ever, intended it to be gun sights. It was simply cross-hairs like you'd see on maps."
"Blood libel" points to a misused biblical passage about Jews and the crucifixion of Christ.
In Matthew 27:25, where the Gospel re-tells the decision to crucify Jesus, "All the people answered, 'His blood is on us and on our children.' "
This passage was the pretext of anti-Semitism for 2,000 years and the motive behind centuries of mass killings, known as pogroms, in Eastern Europe when Jews were falsely accused of using Christian children's blood in religious rites.
Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, president of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, said Palin's own words — that violent political language can endanger people — are "affirming exactly what her critics charge."
By Cathy Lynn Grossman
