The United Federation of Teachers, a New York City affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, accused CNN host Campbell Brown of "blood libel" Monday. Brown has criticized teachers unions for allegedly defending teachers accused of sexual abuse. According to Buzzfeed:
"As educators and teacher unionists, there is no professional responsibility we take more seriously than the safety of the students we teach and care for," wrote UFT Vice President Leo Casey. "The entirely false slander that we protect and defend sexual predators is, for us, the equivalent of a blood libel. There are not words to describe the feelings of anger and outrage we have that the Mayor of the City of New York and his proxies would stoop to such contemptible falsehoods."
Blood libel refers to the claim that Jews or other religious minorities murder children to use their blood in certain aspects of religious rituals and holidays.
Those in the Jewish community have criticized the union leader's anti-Semitic remark, but thus far the outrage level has been low:
The president of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, called Casey's use of the phrase "inappropriate and over-the-top," although he added that the fact that the statement had been made by a midlevel official of a local union meant that it wouldn't be high on his priority list: "Who cares?"