An 8-year-old boy goes outside for shopping. On the way, he tragically slips and drowns in a pool of rainwater, where he is found dead the following day. Some observers accuse Jews — without any evidence — of having murdered the boy. Leaders echo the charge, and locals march toward a nearby Jewish neighborhood seeking “vengeance.”

The story is a classic type of the medieval blood libel, according to which Jews murder Christian children and use their blood for religious rituals. However, these events didn’t transpire in 12th-century England. It happened last weekend. And an American lawmaker echoed the latter-day blood libel.

Qais Abu Ramila was a Palestinian child from East Jerusalem who went missing Saturday. After an hours-long search, authorities found his body; Israeli first responders tried and failed to revive him.

Baseless rumors that Israeli Jews kidnapped and murdered Abu Ramila quickly gained traction. Acting on this unsubstantiated claim, Palestinians searching for the boy marched toward a nearby Jewish neighborhood, believing its residents had kidnapped him. Demonstrators threw rocks at police, who blocked the mob from entering the neighborhood. Ultimately, 12 people were injured and three protesters arrested.

The rumors of kidnap and murder spread on social media. A Twitter account named “Real Seif Bitar” tweeted that Abu Ramila was “kidnapped and executed” by a “herd of violent Israeli settlers,” who assaulted him and threw his body in a well. Palestinian politician Hanan Ashrawi retweeted these allegations, adding, “The heart just shatters, the pain is unbearable, no words.”

And then, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) retweeted Ashrawi, sharing the vicious lies with her nearly 1 million followers.

Of course, mistakes happen. Once authorities concluded the boy had likely slipped and drowned, Ashrawi apologized, saying a kidnapping was “not certain.” Tlaib later deleted her retweet.

But she never apologized, and despite her self-serving acknowledgement a few days later, her followers may still think Jews murdered Abu Ramila.

And this wasn’t the first time Tlaib flirted with blood libel and other forms of anti-Semitism. Last year, for example, Tlaib tweeted that Israel “unjustly oppresses and targets” Palestinian children following a barrage of Palestinian rocket attacks against Israeli civilians.

Two months later, she compared Israel to Nazi Germany, which itself is a form of anti-Semitism under a definition adopted by many Western governments. In August, she declined to participate in a popular trip to Israel for members of Congress, opting instead to take one with a Palestinian NGO that itself pushes blood libels; the trip never came to fruition because Israel barred her from entry. And in December, after an anti-Semitic shooting at a kosher deli in New Jersey, she rushed to condemn white supremacy — when the attacker was black (she later deleted this, too, without further comment).

Whether it’s Israelis supposedly wantonly murdering Palestinian children or medieval Jews drinking the blood of Christian children — the effect of these libels is the same: poisoning public opinion against the Jewish people and stoking the oldest hatred. And while Tlaib may believe she is speaking truth to power when she makes false claims about Israel and Jews, responsible people in her party must hold her accountable for spreading misinformation and propping up illegitimate claims without scrutiny.

Aaron Kliegman is an editor-at-large of the J’accuse Coalition for Justice.