Accusations of the affair were published in the Egyptian daily "Al Akhbar" in 2000 and again in 2001 in an article titled "The Last Scene in the Life of Father Toma". In 2002, the Middle East Media Research Institute reported that some of the 1840 accusations emerged in a 1983 book "The Damascus Blood Libel (1840)" by the Syrian Minister of Defense, Mustafa Tlass. The book was described as being influential in international antisemitic circles as a reliable source of information on "ritual murder by the Jews." In 1983, Tlass wrote and published "The Matzah of Zion", which is a treatment of the Damascus affair of 1840 and repeats the ancient "blood libel", that Jews use the blood of murdered non-Jews in religious rituals such as baking Matza bread. In this book, he argues that the true religious beliefs of Jews are "black hatred against all humans and religions", and that no Arab country should ever sign a peace treaty with Israel. Tlass re-printed the book several times, and he stands by its conclusions. Following the book's publication, Tlass told "Der Spiegel" that this accusation against Jews was valid and that his book is "an historical study ... based on documents from France, Vienna and the American University in Beirut."