On March 24, an Italian artist unveiled a new painting, featuring Jews killing a Christian child.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Giovanni Gasparro’s “The Martyrdom of St. Simon of Trento in accordance with Jewish ritual murder” depicted “a group of hook-nosed Jews with peyot and yellow, uneven teeth strangling the child and draining his blood.” The painting is a reference to a 2-year-old child named Simon in Trento, Italy, who went missing in 1475. His body was rumored to have been found in the basement of a Jewish man’s home. A mob burned 15 Jews at the stake in response to the rumors.
Blood libels, like this new Italian painting, have fueled antisemitism for centuries. There is no excuse for a new one today. Learn more about this trope in our new comprehensive guide, Antisemitism Uncovered:
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean and director of Global Social Action Agenda at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said in a March 25 statement, “On the eve of the Passover and Easter holidays, this Italian artist decides to promote the original, vicious, lurid, and long-debunked blood libel against the Jewish people through his art? We have contacted Facebook to demand that they not provide their powerful social media platform for a screed that has led to the killing and maiming of Jews for hundreds of years.” He urged the Catholic Church to condemn Gasparro’s painting.
“This isn’t art, it’s hate!” Cooper added.
Cooper told the Journal in a March 27 phone interview that he has not heard from Facebook yet on the matter; he also pointed out the Simon of Trento incident was referenced in the Chabad of Poway shooter’s manifesto.
“Especially when people are locked at home and think about the panic in millions of homes − for example, in Italy right now − because of coronavirus, to see this come across is such an outrage and it’s beyond irresponsible,” Cooper said. “We will do our best to monitor and combat this stuff.”
Former New York Democratic Assemblyman Dov Hikind similarly tweeted, “This is straight out of the Middle Ages! Old-school anti-Semitism is back! Blood libels are the rage again! The artist is obviously terribly sick, but the Catholic Church ought to condemn the anti-Semite whose art they once honored!”
