The former Washington Post building. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Antisemitism is skyrocketing. And one of the largest newspapers in the United States is helping fuel the fire.

The Washington Post prides itself on “courageous journalism” and speaking “truth to power,” but a recent report promoted an age-old antisemitic canard. The Dec. 26, 2023, dispatch, “The World Wants a Respite for Gaza. Israel Vows to Keep on Fighting,” regurgitated the claim that Jews steal organs of non-Jews.

As CAMERA’s Ricki Hollander has documented, such “blood libels and conspiracy theories have played a tragic role in Jewish history” and are responsible for inciting anti-Jewish violence. And now you can find them printed in the pages of The Washington Post.

“Palestinian officials,” the Post wrote, “said Tuesday that Israel had returned the bodies of 80 people it had held during the Gaza War via the Karem Shalom border crossing. The Hamas-run government media office said Israel had not identified the bodies or said where they had been taken from. They had been ‘mutilated,’ the media office said in a statement, and there were ‘clear’ indications that organs had been ‘stolen’ from the corpses.”

“The claims,” the Post added, “could not be independently verified.”

As CAMERA has pointed out, this isn’t the first time that the Post has reprinted claims by Hamas, a US-designated terrorist group that calls for a genocide of Jews and the destruction of Israel. Indeed, the newspaper has made a habit of repeating casualty claims provided by the terrorist group, despite overwhelming evidence of their unreliability.

But by peddling a medieval blood libel, the Post has crossed the Rubicon, illustrating that, much like Hamas, there is seemingly no depth to their actions and capriciousness.

The Post’s decision to willingly reprint Hamas propaganda runs counter to how the newspaper often treats statements by Israel Defense Force officials. As CAMERA has highlighted, the IDF is often treated with not-so-thinly veiled suspicion, and its assertions are often presented with distrust, even contempt. Hamas, however, gets a pass.

The Post doesn’t uncritically parrot the claims made by the Islamic State or Al-Qaeda. Yet terror groups whose primary target is Israel, such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah, are often treated differently and given undue credibility. CAMERA has called this the “terror group double standard.”

Antisemitism is being mainstreamed in the West. And many leading media outlets — including those who pride themselves on fighting bigotry — are complicit. Democracy might die in darkness, but antisemitism is being normalized by once great institutions, from politicians to the press. And The Washington Post is foremost among them.

The writer is a Senior Research Analyst for CAMERA, the 65,000-member, Boston-based Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis