TABLET MAG
Laundering Libel
Andrea Martin
November 5, 2026

…Law has been a double-edged sword in Jewish history. It has protected Jews and secured Jewish civil rights. But law has also classified Jews, excluded them, dispossessed them—and, perhaps most dangerously, transformed accusations, stereotypes, and false narratives about Jews into authoritative accounts of who Jews are. Consider Canon 67 of the Fourth Lateran Council, adopted in 1215. It condemned the “perfidy of the Jews” for supposedly extorting “oppressive and excessive interest” from Christians through usury. The true narrative was that in many places, Jews faced restrictions on landholding, guild membership, public office, and numerous occupations, while Christian canon law barred Christians from lending money at interest. As a result, money lending became one of the limited economic roles available to some Jews. That historical context was ignored. The law simply inserted an existing rumor and stereotype of Jewish greed, deceit, and guile into canon law. The stereotype came first; the law then adopted it as a premise. Once embedded in law, the stereotype helped justify further restrictions on Jews, including limits on their contact with Christians. READ MORE