- RIYADH (Reuters) - A Saudi
editor said on Thursday that an article published by his newspaper claiming
that Jews add human blood to pastries they eat at a religious festival
was wrong and that he had ended a contract with its author.
-
- "What has been mentioned by this writer is wrong.
It neither reflects the opinion of al-Riyadh newspaper nor the Saudi
government.
We have full respect for all religions," said Turki Abdullah
al-Sudairi,
editor-in-chief of al-Riyadh daily.
-
- State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on
Wednesday
that Washington had complained to the Saudi government about the article,
saying it was baseless and inflammatory.
-
- The article by Omayma Ahmed al-Jalahma, who teaches at
King Faisal University, appeared in the newspaper on March 10 and has been
widely circulated in translation.
-
- Sudairi said he was outside Saudi Arabia when the article
was published and that Jalahma has been stopped from writing for the paper
since then.
-
- "Anyway, she's not working full-time for us. She
only started last month as a freelancer," he told Reuters.
-
- Jalahma's article said: "This (Purim) feast requires
the Jewish people to provide human blood so that their men of religion
can prepare the feast pastry, in other words the rituals of their feast
can take place properly only if they shed human blood."
-
- It said shedding human blood to make pastries was a
permanent
feature of Jewish history and law and a fundamental reason for the
persecution
and eviction of the Jews.
-
- Al-Riyadh newspaper is privately owned but, like all
Saudi media, it stays within limits set by the government of Saudi Arabia,
a key U.S. ally in the Middle East.
-
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