A range of Jewish and pro-Israel figures, including Israel’s antisemitism envoy, accused Sen. Jeff Merkley of advancing a “blood libel” for linking Easter to what he called Israel’s “indiscriminate bombing” of Gaza.

Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, had already marked Easter Sunday on X with a generic wish for a “blessed holiday.” He followed up with a post citing the holiday in his call to cut arms shipments to Israel and to pressure the country to facilitate the entry of more humanitarian assistance into Gaza.

“On this Easter, let’s ponder [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s indiscriminate bombing of Gaza, which has killed more than 20,000 women and children, and his restriction of humanitarian aid, which has pushed Palestinians to the brink of famine,” Merkley said in a three-post thread on X, formerly Twitter. Israel disputes the numbers of women and children killed, saying it is lower, and says it is doing everything possible to let aid into Gaza. ...

A range of Jewish voices replying to the posts condemned Merkley’s statement as well as its link to Easter, the Christian holiday celebrating Jesus’ resurrection that has long been used as a justification for attacks on Jews, who were historically blamed for killing Christ. In recent decades, the Catholic Church and other major Christian denominations have repudiated that accusation, though it has persisted in some quarters.