The seal of the CIA in the lobby of its headquarters. Photo: WikiCommons.

Egypt’s Al Talyia News published an article by columnist Ghada Abd El Moneim that alleged proof of the anti-Semitic libel that re-surges each year on Passover, claiming that a classified CIA report confirms that Jews use blood from murders in baking matzah for the holiday.

The article was translated by Shawarma News and flagged by blogger Elder of Ziyon on Monday.

“We received news of a (classified) CIA report that was leaked by the Egyptian General Intelligence,” Moneim’s column read.

“The report points to the truth of the information circulating in the Arab region about the brutality and secret rituals practiced by the Jews in their festivals such as Passover and Chanukah, including the slaughter of non-Jews and offering human sacrifices to the God…”

“Confirming that Jewish extremists of Palestinian origin did kill a number of children to mix their blood (for the baking) of matzos for Chanukah every now and then, as well as confirming their killing of foreign children from African countries, Palestinian, Egyptian, Moroccan children, Egyptian prisoners of war, Palestinian prisoners to use their blood for the baking of matzos for Chanukah.”

Last week, VISA Inc. was embroiled in scandal when a similar article, published by Egyptian journalist Firnas Hafzi in El Kebar magazine, entitled, ‘The Jewish Bloodsuckers On Passover,’ embarrassed the credit card issuer which advertises via a third party on the magazine’s website.

“When Visa was made aware of the intolerant nature of the content, we worked to have it removed,” spokesperson Nehmat Baradhy told The Algemeiner. “We regret that our brand has been associated with this type of content and we condemn intolerance of any kind.”

A commenter on the Elder of Ziyon blog pointed out the obvious facts ignored by the persistent ‘blood libel’ myth:

“Given that kashrut forbids eating food with blood in it and that using anything but flour and water renders matzah unfit for Passover, there are already 2 reasons why this is completely impossible,” said Zvi.

Another reason — at least worth mentioning regarding the CIA-linked plot alleged by Egypt’s Al Talyia News — is that matzah is only eaten on Passover, not on Chanukah, referred to incorrectly three times in the first few sentences of the translation.

Despite the ability to access more information now than ever that could debunk the “blood libel” myth quickly after scratching the service, the story persists, and is rarely corrected.

Elder of Ziyon wrote on Monday, “As usual, it is impossible to find any articles in Egypt – or even comments to these articles – that say that the blood libel is a lie.”