-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: February 26, 2007 1:44:46 PM PST
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Passover of Blood
The most inflammatory kind of "Blood libel" coming from a Jew, son
of a Chief Rabbi, and a professor of Jewish history at an Israeli
university -- CUI BONO?
MKS DEMAND THE AUTHOR OF BLOOD LIBEL BOOK BE PROSECUTED
By Ofri Ilani and Adi Schwartz, Haaretz Correspondents
Ha'aretz (Israel), 26 February 2007
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/830711.html
MKs on Monday demanded that the state [of Israel] examine ways in
which it could prosecute Professor Ariel Toaff, who wrote the book
"Pasque di Sangue" [Passovers of Blood], which discusses the
possible facts behind 15th century European blood libels against Jews.
Speaking at a discussion of the book and its ramifications held at
the Knesset Education Committee, MK Marina Solodkin (Kadima) said
the thought "there are valid reasons to prosecute the author of the
book," and called to "put him to trial over historical truth and
the Jewish people's reputation."
MK Arieh Eldad (National Union), who initiated the discussion, said
that Toaff "has made himself an accomplice to modern blood
libels." Eldad added that the state must ensure that for such
publications, "the punishment will exceed the benefit."
Most of the discussion's participants used the meeting to attack
the "new historians" who criticize Israel policy -- this despite
the fact that Toaff does not address Israel's policy at all in his
book.
Eldad said, "Toaff was possibly jealous of modern historians who
publish modern blood libels against the State of Israel."
Solodkin said that when she reads research published by the "modern
historians," he finds in them "many lies similar to the false
history taught in the Soviet Union."
TOAFF TO RETRACT CLAIM THAT JEWS KILLED CHRISTIANS FOR THEIR BLOOD
Toaff, who 10 days ago ordered a halt to the distribution of his
controversial book about the use of human blood by Jewish
communities in the Middle Ages, plans to clarify his positions in a
scientific journal, stressing that Jews did not murder Christian
children for their blood.
In his book "Pasque di Sangue" [Passovers of Blood], Toaff
discusses at length the possibility that Jews murdered Christian
children to use their blood in religious rituals, and argues that
confessions to such acts extracted under torture should not be
dismissed.
Toaff uses as an example the blood libel of Trent in 1475, and
suggests that Jews did murder the young child, Simon, who is at the
center of the affair.
He now wants to make it clear that the Jews of Trent did not murder
Simon or any other Christian children for ritual purposes. Toaff
will also make it clear that the blood of dead Christians could not
possibly have been used, whether in food, beverages or for
medicinal or magical purposes, because the blood traded by Jews and
Christians at the time came from living donors, not corpses. His
conclusion is that Jews could not possibly have murdered Christian
children for their blood.
Among the elements of his research, Toaff wants to emphasize that
there were extremist elements within the Ashkenazi community in
Germany that suffered at the hands of Christians during the
Crusades, and fled through the Alps to Italy during the 15th century.
Toaff has been criticized for the book's title as well as the image
on its cover, an etching of the sacrifice of Isaac showing a
bearded man wielding a large knife above the body of a boy. Italian
readers who do not recognize the Biblical reference might think it
is "another case" of a Jew murdering a child. Toaff will specify in
his article that the book's title and cover were chosen without his
input and over his protests.
Toaff, who teaches Medieval and Renaissance History at Bar-Ilan
University and whose father is a former chief rabbi of Rome, has
been criticized by Jewish and non-Jewish historians for his book.
Fellow academics have called his research methodologically flawed
to the point of being "an insult to intelligence."
Not a single historian has come to his defense.
As a result of the public uproar caused by the book's publication,
Toaff decided to suspend its distribution as well as any new
printings, and to donate his profits from the 3,000 copies already
sold to the Anti-Defamation League. BIU President Prof. Moshe Kaveh
summoned Toaff for a private talk last week, after which the
university issued a press announcement in which it "strongly
condemns and repudiates what is seemingly implied by Toaff's book
and by reports in the media concerning its contents."
The Knesset Education, Culture and Sport Committee is scheduled to
discuss the book this morning. University history teachers and
representatives from the Education Ministry, Bar Ilan, Yad Vashem
and the ADL, as well as Toaff himself, were invited to the session,
which was initiated by MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union).
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