Brazilian political party leader says Jews ‘sacrificed children’
Jewish group files criminal complaint against Roberto Jefferson, head of the pro-Bolsonaro Labor Party, or PTB
![Roberto Jefferson (Wikipedia//Source Agência Brasil [1] / Author Marcello Casal Jr./ABr/ Attribution 3.0 Brazil (CC BY 3.0 BR))](https://static.jewishnews.co.uk/jewishnews/uploads/2021/03/Roberto_Jefferson_durante_reunião_do_Conselho_de_Ética_e_Decoro_Parlamentar_da_Câmara_6-scaled.jpg "Roberto Jefferson (Wikipedia//Source Agência Brasil [1] / Author Marcello Casal Jr./ABr/ Attribution 3.0 Brazil (CC BY 3.0 BR))")
Brazilian political party leader says Jews ‘sacrificed children’
Jewish groups have filed a criminal complaint against the head of a major Brazilian party for putting the age-old antisemitic blood libel trope in a social media post.
“Baal, Satanic deity, Canaanites and Jews sacrificed children to receive their sympathy. Today, history repeats itself,” Roberto Jefferson posted on Instagram on Friday.
Jefferson, a fervently Christian politician, has led the Labor Party, or PTB as it is known in Brazil, since 2003. Once a left-leaning worker’s party, PTB is now a strong supporter of right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro. It holds 12 seats out of 513 in Brazil’s lower parliamentary Chamber of Deputies.
The Brazilian Israelite Confederation called Jefferson’s post “one of the vilest ways” to attack Jews.
“This features crime of racism with an increased penalty for having been committed through a social network,” the Confederation wrote in a statement on Saturday. “Screenshots and comments of followers, which can also be characterised as a crime, have been preserved for criminal investigation.”
Instagram has removed Jefferson’s post. On Twitter, he called the Jewish organisation’s note “clowning.”
“There are some assholes who make a point of generating tensions. The confederation’s leadership wants sensationalism. Morons,” Jefferson said.
The Curitiba Holocaust Museum dedicated several educational tweets to the case.
“The charge of ritual crime against Jews came during the medieval period. Known as a blood libel, it is one of the most terrible expressions of cruelty and blind faith in the entire history of mankind. The myth was used as a motivation for the murder of thousands of Jews,” the museum tweeted Saturday.
In 1993, Jefferson was cited in a congressional report which investigated bribery. In 2005, he was involved in a corruption scandal and barred from being elected to any public office until 2015.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
