US Jewish groups condemn blood libel display at DC train station

Jewish groups condemn a display in Washington, DC, that echoes the age-old anti-Jewish blood libel that has caused outbreaks of violence against Jews for centuries.

Performers wearing the masks of prominent leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, are seen in a video of the display drinking mock blood from wine glasses at a table covered with a blood-spattered Israeli flag.

Also on the table are fake bloody limbs and fake organ meat. The performers, their hands stained red, wipe the blood off their faces with Israeli flags. The characters playing Netanyahu and former US president Joe Biden pull apart a heap of bloody entrails.

An oversized menu that was placed next to the table is titled, “Israel’s Friendsgiving Dinner,” and its offerings include, “Gaza children’s limbs,” “stolen organs,” “illegally harvested skin,” and for a drink, “Gaza’s spilled blood.”

The bottom of the menu is signed with a heart next to Netanyahu’s name.

Blood libel was on full display today at Union Station in Washington, D.C.

Dressed up as “activism” and “performance art,” this was nothing less than the revival of one of the oldest and most dangerous antisemitic tropes in history.

Blood libel has fueled violence, persecution,… pic.twitter.com/YIY3hltMQA

— American Jewish Committee (@AJCGlobal) November 21, 2025

The exhibit took place at Union Station in the capital, the main entryway into the city for public transportation.

The American Jewish Committee says, “Blood libel was on full display today.”

“Dressed up as ‘activism’ and ‘performance art,’ this was nothing less than the revival of one of the oldest and most dangerous antisemitic tropes in history,” the committee says. “Blood libel has fueled violence, persecution and massacres of Jews for centuries. Seeing it resurface in our nation’s capital is both horrifying and unacceptable.”

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater DC says, “just steps away from the symbols and heart of American democracy, a scene that would have been right at home in Nazi Germany played out in the United States. Seldom have we seen such a sickening display of full-throated antisemitism.”

Pro-Palestinian activists in the area claim credit for the display on social media.

The blood libel is an age-old anti-Jewish myth that falsely says Jews murder non-Jews to bake their blood into Passover matzah. The libel is one of the most notorious antisemitic falsehoods and has caused repeated violence to Jews in Europe and elsewhere.

Last week, a university researcher in the UK taught a blood libel to students during a lecture.