The existence of a Jewish community in Rhodes was first documented toward the end of the Hellenistic period. The blood libel against Jews originated in England in 1144 with the case of William of Norwich. The accusation that Jews used the blood of Christian children to prepare matzos for the Passover became a staple of Christian antisemitism of the Middle Ages.
About Rhodes blood libel in brief
The Greek Orthodox community accused Jews on the island of Rhodes of the ritual murder of a Christian boy who disappeared in February of that year. Initially the libel garnered support from the consuls of several European countries, including the United Kingdom, France, the Austrian Empire, Sweden, and Greece. In November of the same year, the Ottoman sultan issued a decree denouncing the blood libel as false. The existence of a Jewish community in Rhodes was first documented toward the end of the Hellenistic period. In a Roman decree dated to 142 BC, Rhodes is listed among the areas notified of the renewal of the pact of friendship between the Roman senate and the Jewish nation. In the 12th century, Benjamin of Tudela found some 400 Jews in the city of Rhodes. In 1522, these Jews and their descendants helped the Ottomans seize Rhodes. Under the Ottoman rule, Rhodes became an important Sephardi center, home to many famous rabbis. By the 19th century,. the wealthier Jews were merchants in cloth, silk, sulfur, and resins. The rest were small shopkeepers and artisans, street vendors, and fishermen. The community was governed by a council of seven officials. Sources give the number of Jews during the late 1800s between 2,000 and 4,000. The blood libel against Jews originated in England in 1144 with the case of William of Norwich. The accusation that Jews used the blood of Christian children to prepare matzos for the Passover became a staple of Christian antisemitism of the Middle Ages.
After 1772, few blood libel cases reached European courts after 1772. In 1839, the sultan’s Hatti Sharif of Gulhane proclaimed in 1839 the era of liberal reforms known as the Tanzimat. This period enhanced the status of Christians and eroded the power of authorities to protect the Jews. Before 1840, cases of blood libel occurred in 1810 and 1826 in Antioch in 1826. In 1840, contemporaneous with the affair in Rhodes, a more famous case of more famous blood libel was developing in Damascus, while the city was under the short-lived control of Muhammad Ali Amara. On February 5, 1826, a friar named Ibrahim Amara went missing and his servant Thomas Capara protected him. The case of Thomas Caparara went on to protect his life and protect the life of his servant, Amara Amara, who was killed in a car accident in 1828. In July 1840, a formal inquiry into the affair established the innocence of the Jewish community. A consensus developed that the charge was false. After the investigation, the governor of Rhodes sent the case to the central government, which initiated a formal probe into the incident. The first appearance of theBlood libel under Ottoman rule took place in the reign of Mehmet II. The number of ritual murder accusation arose as late as the early 20th century in the Middle East while the Blood libel likely came there in the early 19th Century.
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This page is based on the article Rhodes blood libel published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 05, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
