Rhodes blood libel

Finally, in November of the same year, the Ottoman sultan issued a decree (firman) denouncing the blood libel as false.

After the Ottomans conquered the Byzantine lands, Greek communities were usually the source of ritual murder charges against Jews, often at times of social and economic tensions.

[8] In the 16th century, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent issued a firman, formally denouncing blood libel charges against the Jews.

On February 5, Capuchin friar Thomas and his servant Ibrahim Amara went missing, and the Jews of Damascus were accused of murdering them to collect their blood for Passover matzos.

[10] The local Christian community, the governor, and the French consul, who received full support from Paris, actively pursued the ritual murder charge.

On February 23, he was interrogated again and tortured in the presence of many dignitaries, including the governor, the qadi (Muslim judge), the Greek archbishop, and European consuls.

Jews of Rhodes reported that Stamboli was "loaded with chains, many stripes were inflicted upon him and red-hot wires were run through his nose, burning bones were applied to his head and a very heavy stone was laid upon his breast, insomuch as he was reduced to the point of death."

[14] At the instigation of the Greek clergy and the European consuls, Governor Yusuf Pasha blockaded the Jewish quarter on the eve of Purim and arrested Jacob Israel the chief rabbi.

Only after the blockade had lasted for twelve months was the governor forced to lift it by a high treasury official who visited the island on a tour of inspection.

[10] The British consul reported that "the Greeks cried loud that justice had not been rendered to them and that the rabbi and chiefs ought to have been imprisoned… In order to keep the populace quiet… it was decided that these should be arrested."

Eight Jews were arrested, including the chief rabbi and David Mizrahi, who were tortured by being suspended swinging from hooks in the ceiling in the presence of the European consuls.

[15] During the interrogation of the chief rabbi, Wilkinson asked, referring to the qadi's decision to dismiss the case: "What signifies the Mollah's judgment to us after what happened in Damascus and it is proved that, according to the Talmud, Christian blood must be used in making your Passover bread?

Davis was rapidly increasing his share in the profitable sponge exports from the island, and he was a major business rival of the European consuls.

Other Jewish sources claimed that the "consuls stated openly… their purpose of exterminating the Jews of Rhodes or to compel them to change their religion.

It was not until March 27 that the leaders of the Jewish community in the Ottoman capital forwarded it to the Rothschild family, together with a similar call for help from the Jews of Damascus.

The resolution condemning the ritual murder charges was published as a paid advertisement in 35 British journals; it appeared twice in the most important newspapers.

On April 30, a delegation elected by the Board met with the foreign secretary Lord Palmerston, who called the blood libel a "calumny" and promised that "the influence of the British government should be exerted to put a stop to [the] atrocities."

In his dispatch of May 5, the foreign secretary told Lord Ponsonby, the British ambassador in Constantinople, to communicate the material on the Rhodes affair to the Ottoman government "officially and in writing" and to "request… an immediate and strict inquiry to be made… especially into the allegation that these atrocities were committed at the instigation of the Christians and the European consuls.

This opinion was held not only by Lord Ponsonby, but also by von Stürmer, whose correspondence revealed that he was not at all convinced of the innocence of the Jews; by the French ambassador Edouard Pontois, whose government stood by the French consuls who supported blood libels in Rhodes and Damascus; and by the Prussian ambassador Hans von Königsmark.

[25] The Christians responded to these actions of the central government with a fresh wave of fury against the Jews so that in late May violence was in the air.

[28] The case dragged on for two more months, as the British ambassador insisted on bringing to light the facts implicating the Rhodes governor of torture.

In its second part, Yusuf Pasha was dismissed from his post as governor of Rhodes because "he had permitted procedures to be employed against the Jews which are not authorized in any way by the law and which are expressly forbidden by the Hatt-i Sharif of 3 November".

The British ambassador praised the investigation as one during which "[t]he affair of Rhodes was examined with fairness" and called the verdict "a signal proof of the justice and humanity with which the Sublime Porte acts.

"[29] In July 1840, a delegation headed by Adolphe Crémieux and Sir Moses Montefiore left for Egypt to save the Jews of Damascus.

The delegation, concerned primarily with the release of the imprisoned Jews of Damascus, decided to accept their liberation without any judicial declaration of their innocence or formal denunciation of the blood libel.

The liberation order was issued on August 28, 1840, and, as a compromise, it stated explicitly that it was an act of justice rather than a pardon granted by the ruler.

On October 15, 1840, in the Ottoman capital he had a meeting with Lord Ponsonby, to whom Montefiore suggested that following the precedent set by Suleiman the Magnificent, the sultan should issue a decree (firman) formally denouncing the blood libel and effectively sealing the cases both in Rhodes and in Damascus.

Citing the judgment in the Rhodes case, the decree stated that a careful examination of Jewish beliefs and "religious books" had demonstrated that "the charges brought against them… are pure calumny.