Palin defends Jewish "blood libel" comment, accuses opponents of trying to 'shut her up'

Washington, Jan 18 (ANI): Potential 2012 presidential candidate Sarah Palin has defended her "blood libel" phrase that she had used in her video response to the Arizona shootings, and added that her critics cannot 'shut her up' over her conservative agenda.

Palin said her left rivals hate her messages and therefore, trying to stop her.

"I believe there are many on the left who don't want Congress to get back to work. It's easier for critics of a commonsense, conservative agenda to try to divert and distract from issues at hand. I will continue to speak out. They're not going to shut me up." the CBS News quoted her, as saying.

Addressing the criticism she received from some Jewish groups last week for using the term "blood libel," Palin said: "Blood libel obviously means being falsely accused."

She further claimed that she was not speaking out for "self-defense", but for those who have been falsely accused for the massacre.

Representative Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, and 18 others were shot last Saturday by a gunman outside a supermarket where Giffords was meeting with her constituents.

Following the massacre, Palin's opposition had blamed that her depiction of controversial crosshairs symbols on her Facebook page ahead of the mid-term polls last year, led to the Tucson massacre in the United States. (ANI)