Professor outrages Jews with book claim

[Behind the Aegis]

A Jewish academic has shocked Italy by claiming Jews murdered Christians for their blood in the Middle Ages so it could be used in rituals.

The details were revealed in the Italian newspaper, the Corriere della Sera, which published extracts of the book, Easter of Blood by Professor Ariel Toaff.

The claims were denied by leading Jewish figures including his father Elio, once the chief Rabbi of Rome.

In the book, Prof Toaff alleges the ritual killing was carried out by members of a fundamentalist group in reaction to the persecution of Jews.

more...

[twilight_sailing]

1. I am SO not interested.

[mike_c]

2. took the words right out of my mouth....

eom

[Behind the Aegis]

4. then why bother to post?

[twilight_sailing]

5. yada, yada, yada

Have some soup. ;)

[Behind the Aegis]

6. Why do you even bother to post in this thread?

Is it that anti-Semitism is not a big issue for you? Is it something else? Or is it that you can't be bothered with what is happening in the world in regards to Jews?

[twilight_sailing]

7. Sure, buddy, believe what ever you want.

"If it makes you happy it can't be that bad."
Sheryl Crow

[Behind the Aegis]

8. Since you can't be bothered to answer simple questions.,,

...I guess I have no choice.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Behind the Aegis]

11. Then stop using it.

[twilight_sailing]

12. yada, yada, yada

[Behind the Aegis]

14. Seems your needle is stuck.

I guess it was some what important enough for you to proclaim, in your "wisdom," that is a non-story. :eyes:

[twilight_sailing]

15. Re-state your point in one sentece.

I've got about half an hour.

Stand up.

[Behind the Aegis]

16. Why did you feel the need to post that you were not interested?

Do you do this with every post that you find no interest in?

[twilight_sailing]

17. That is a LOSER!

LOL. Thanks for wasting my time.

[Behind the Aegis]

19. Couldn't answer, huh?

What a shame. But, not at all surprising given your "witty" responses.

[twilight_sailing]

22. Sure.

You have kicked my ass in this debate. LOL.

[Behind the Aegis]

25. There was a "debate?"

Then, it is clear we have a difference of opinion, not only on the worthiness of this article, but also the definition of the word "debate."

[twilight_sailing]

26. about 10 minutes left.

State your point.

[Name removed]

27. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Jim Sagle]

40. Gotcher soup right here, pal.

[mike_c]

10. I posted because I think it's a non-story....

The academic in question can either back up his claim (which I doubt), in which case no amount of indignant outrage will change the facts of the matter, or he's making unsubstantiated claims and no one will pay him any mind. Or better still, his claims will motivate more careful researchers to thoroughly investigate the matter. People who make hairball claims like that dig their own intellectual graves.

[Behind the Aegis]

13. If such a non-story, then why post?

Who are you to decide what is and isn't a story worthy of discussion? As a matter of opinion, your response is actually a good one. So why didn't you just lead off with that response? The fact is that something like this, especially from a Jew, is a very bad thing. This will embolden an already hateful sect, and, in some cases, lead to others following suit.

[mike_c]

18. I didn't "decide" anything-- I expressed my opinion that...

...I don't care about this story. Discuss it all you like.

[Behind the Aegis]

20. And what was the purpose?

Do you do this often? Pop into threads where you are not interested in the topic and proclaim it not worthy of discussion?

[Missy M]

30. Why would you even bother to read the OP if you don't care..

about the story, no less post all you did? I find the story interesting and wonder if it could possibly be true. I doubt it.

[AlienGirl]

31. I would assume (most) people here know the stories are untrue; the larger issue here is torture

Is *'s administration's legitimization of torture in interrogations spilling over?

Tucker

[mike_c]

33. I think perhaps you're confusing me with another DUer....

I simply replyed to #1 that I agreed with his/her lack of interest. I did not reply to the OP at all.

Why all this furor over my finding this story a bit ridiculous?

[Jim Sagle]

39. Then why not shut yer pie hole?

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. So, is this guy a "messianic Jew"? nt

[azurnoir]

21. There are some that try to use this BS

Either to smear Jews or claim credence for confession under torture. No matter which or what it sucks. Just what was this guy thinking or smoking? All it needs is preface by Mel Gibson or Bill Donohue.

[Behind the Aegis]

24. Now there is something I hadn't thought of!

"Either to smear Jews or claim credence for confession under torture." That is an interesting take. I guess I can see how some might take this, and other recent examples, as an excuse for torture. I am going to go out on a limb and say that, like me, you probably don't see torture as a legitimate way of extracting information.

Of course, I think this "piece" will have other uses as well, like you describe. It is that use that concerns me most.

[Hoping4Change]

23. Unflattering historical truths should always be brought to

light however there has to be proof that serious scholarship is involved and that seems grossly lacking in this instance. This professor is a fool to base his opinion on confessions made by the alleged perpetrators. What solid proof does he have that such confessions weren't just concocted? The article doesn't give much detail but its ludicrous to think that Jews just walked into the local Castle and offered up a confession.

[Bear down under]

28. That Jews murdered Christian children .....

... and used their blood for rituals was one of the commonest charges brought against them by fanatics during the Middle Ages. There has never been any evidence they did except "confessions" extracted under torture. If such evidence is acceptable, we must also accept that black magic not only existed but was widespread, especially in the American colonies.

[AlienGirl]

29. Particularly interesting given how Bushco is using torture as an interrogation method.

[idealistMO]

32. maybe the author...

... has something to back his claims up. History has shown that all types of people have done horrible things.

.Native Americans had black slaves, for one thing

[Lurking Dem]

34. I have to wonder

after reading the link if he has "daddy" issues?

[Vidar]

35. Just imagine future publications based on Gitmo "confessions".

[applegrove]

36. How does someone get something like that published? How?

[Igel]

37. By saying it's a claim, by saying the claim was

made under duress, by saying the claim involves a small quasi-extremist group, and by that it might be true.

He's not vouching for the claim's veridicality, just postulating that for a small, marginal group of Jews of it might have been true.

This is distinct from the usual varieties of blood libel--which make no such stipulation as to the number and kind of Jews involved, and asserts the absolute truthfulness of the claim. The difference makes the entire story a non-story, as far as the story itself is concerned.

It's up there with saying there's a small, radical group of whites that might, out of religious motivations, have killed blacks a century ago. It's a statement that says nothing about me, since I didn't live a century ago, didn't belong to the group, don't share the group's religious motivations, haven't killed (or desired to kill) anybody, black or white, and there's no claim that the group actually *did* kill any blacks.

Now, if whites were a minority, oppressed, and it was generally believed by various groups for the last few hundred years that whites as a whole wanted to kill blacks--and that this was the ostensible basis of racism and oppression while being patently false as far as whites in general were concerned, I might be concerned. Not because of the story, but because of how people that want to take the story the wrong way and twist it would do so. For the most part, however, the people that would revel in such distortion of the facts would find this superfluous. A few days ago a Lebanese poet, Chamoun (?), blathered in the media about the much vaunted Protocols and how they're true, how the Damascus blood libel story is the absolute truth, and he bought many copies of such "truth-seeking" books in the past and gives hate as a wedding present to any couples he knows getting married.

[struggle4progress]

38. As usual, The Telegraph misrepresents. Toaff does NOT claim such a murder occurred:

at best, all he says is perhaps what any historian confronted with an ancient confession extracted under torture might say: well, could be