A Saudi government newspaper published a column asserting that Jews use the blood of teenagers to make a special pastry associated with the March holiday of Purim, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute, which provided a translation.

"This holiday has some dangerous customs that will, no doubt, horrify you, and I apologize if any reader is harmed because of this," wrote Dr. Umayma Ahmad Al-Jalahma of King Faisal University in a column published March 10.

Writing in the daily Al-Riyadh, Al-Jalahma said, "For this holiday, the Jewish people must obtain human blood so that their clerics can prepare the holiday pastries. In other words, the practice cannot be carried out as required if human blood is not spilled!!"

The allegation of blood libel was common in the Middle Ages when Jews were accused of "ritual murder" in their celebration of the Passover. During the feast, which commemorates Israel's escape from Egypt, a family puts the blood of a lamb on the doorpost of its home, but Jews were accused of using the blood of Christian children. The Catholic Church has since condemned the unfounded allegation.

Al-Jalahma insisted "that the Jews' spilling human blood to prepare pastry for their holidays is a well-established fact, historically and legally, all throughout history. This was one of the main reasons for the persecution and exile that were their lot in Europe and Asia at various times."

For the Purim holiday pastries, the columnist said, "the victim must be a mature adolescent who is, of course, a non-Jew – that is, a Christian or a Muslim. His blood is taken and dried into granules. The cleric blends these granules into the pastry dough; they can also be saved for the next holiday. In contrast, for the Passover slaughtering, about which I intend to write one of these days, the blood of Christian and Muslim children under the age of 10 must be used, and the cleric can mix the blood (into the dough) before or after dehydration."

Al-Jalahma continued: