Ereli says Al Manar's program depicting Passover sacrifice is "despicable"

State Department Deputy Spokesman Adam Ereli condemned Al Manar Television's series depicting the sacrifice of a Christian boy so his blood could be used in a Jewish Passover celebration as libelous and vehemently anti-Semitic.

Al Manar Television, based in Lebanon, is run by Hezbollah, which the United States considers as a terrorist organization.

Speaking at the November 19 State Department briefing, Ereli said both the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Vincent Battle and Chargé in Damascus Gene Cretz have raised U.S. concerns over the television series with Lebanese and Syrian officials.

"It is despicable and merits the strongest condemnation possible. Such venomous anti-Semitism has absolutely no place in the civilized world. Such programs, I think it's an understatement to say, do not contribute to the climate of mutual understanding and tolerance that the Middle East needs," said Ereli.

Following is an excerpt from the State Department briefing:

(begin excerpt)

QUESTION: While we're in that part of the world, Hezbollah TV -- which I don't think can be seen in Washington -- but evidently, they've moved along with their series, and the latest installment, evidently, is the old Russian and Nazi libel that Jews sacrificed Christian children to use their blood.

This -- for Passover -- this time the Rabbi authorizes it. It's a gripping documentary. I wonder -- I can imagine what the State Department thinks about it. But what is the State Department doing about it?

MR. ERELI: Let me tell you first what the State Department thinks, and then I'll tell you what the State Department is doing. As you say, Barry, there's a television series that -- Arabic television series that's running on Hezbollah TV. Last night it featured the sacrifice of a Christian boy to use his blood in the celebration of Passover. This is a libelous presentation, by Al-Manar, which is the domestic and satellite TV station of the Hezbollah party.

It is despicable and merits the strongest condemnation possible. Such venomous anti-Semitism has absolutely no place in the civilized world. Such programs, I think it's an understatement to say, do not contribute to the climate of mutual understanding and tolerance that the Middle East needs.

As you will recall, when this series began airing, our ambassador in Beirut, Vincent Battle, made his views known -- made the views of the U.S. Government known to the Government of Beirut, and our chargé in Damascus Gene Cretz, raised the issue with the government there.

We will be underscoring our concerns once again in light of this latest outrageous episode of the program.

(end excerpt)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)