Since Easter/Passover is coming...

The purpose of a blood libel was to distract the Gentile population from their downtrodden condition by having them take out their frustrations on the Jews, rather than on the monarchs who taxed them into poverty. Jews would sometimes try to prove their innocence of these preposterous allegations, but it was of no use. Every Passover Jews all over medieval Europe were beaten and murdered. The blood libel was a smokescreen to distract the Christian population from the real issues but the Jew-haters would not allow themselves to be confused with the facts. Blood libels still exist today in various forms. Recently some anti-Semites have begun to accuse Karaite Jews of unspeakable things. The facts are unimportant to these hatemongers. Their goal is to whip up emotion and hatred to distract their followers from the truth. A wise man from Galilee once said you can know a person by his fruits. If all a person produces is hatred, that says something about that person. My prayer is that those that seek the truth of Torah from among the nations will learn the lesson of history and reject the venom of the hatemonger.

[via The Mensch in the Moon, emphasis mine]