Well poisoning: Encyclopedia - Well poisoning

Well poisoning

For the logical fallacy, see poisoning the well.

Well-poisoning (the malicious manipulation of potable water resources to cause illness or death) is potentially the gravest of three accusations historically brought against Jewish people as a whole (the other two being host desecration and blood libel.)

Well poisoning - Historical accusations of well-poisoning against Jews

Medieval people did not know about the existence of viruses and bacteria, thus they could not understand epidemics. Any sudden deterioration of health was considered a result of poisoning. Europe was rattled by several waves of Black Death (often identified as bubonic plague) throughout the late medieval ages and crowded cities were hit especially hard by the disease, often losing up to 50% of their population at a time. Terrible scenes left mentally and emotionally distressed survivors searching frenziedly for perpetrators.

Predominantly city-dwelling Jewish people, who were administratively forced to live inside walled-up, segregated ghetto districts proved to be ideal scapegoats. Jewish mortality was significantly lower compared to the Christian population. Some medieval Europeans theorized that Jews must have poisoned city wells, while relying on their own wells in the ghetto, in order to exterminate Christian residents (a repetition of Christ-killing). Numerous pogroms were held and scores of Jewish people were burned, at the stake, inside synogogues and in private houses.

The decline of plague in Europe as well as the Renaissance and later the Enlightenment movement put an end to this practice. Yet, the term "well-poisoning" still carries a significant emotional payload and is generally avoided in Europe.

Well poisoning - Contemporary accusations of well-poisoning against Jews

Along with all sorts of other exciting accusations, Jews in general and Israelis in particular are often referred to as "well poisoners" and AIDS proliferators by government press throughout the Arab world. Such attacks can even be found levelled by English literate Muslims who occasionally vandalize webpages with this age old juicy bit of hatred.

Well poisoning - Contemporary accusations of well-poisoning against non-Jews

Shortly after the failed 1956 Hungarian anti-communist revolution a young male person visited several villages in the eastern "Kunsag" region of Hungary. He introduced himself with papers assigned to an agricultural engineer to survey drinking water supplies and he performed some samplings. According to an unverified report, a few days later soldiers arrived and banned locals from drinking any water but portions from water-wagons. Sappers sucked wells dry several times and cleaned them, then left. Communist party officials claimed the vagabond person was actually a CIA operative who poisoned wells to decimate livestock and sicken people.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Well poisoning", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki