“Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.”
  -- Blaise Pascal
 

“In individuals insanity is rare, but  in groups, parties, nations and epochs it is the rule.”
  -- Friedrich Nietzsche

 

     What Is Ritual Murder?
 

The allegations that certain factions within the Judaic religion practice a horrible and primitive rite of human sacrifice have been continuous since very ancient times.  While at first seemingly gross and implausible, a closer look at the maze of historical accounts, civil and ecclesiastical court records, books, newspapers stories, the Bible, folk tales, ballads and legends indicates that there is more here than mere “anti-Semitism and hate”.  Although denied and disrespected by the Vatican today, over 20 Catholic saints and beati were ritual murder martyrs.  In truth, ritual murder is a multicultural and international phenomenon occurring in all times and places.  Few cultures are exempt from these truly evil, primal, archetypal components of the human psyche.  Because of cultural and societal tensions, there were other allegations against Jews[1] of outrageous behaviors, but most were either isolated occurrences or baseless.  Moreover as time moved on, these old tales were heard less and less often, dying out as modern times dawned.  That is, all except one -- that of ritual murder.  Easily verifiable facts show that during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, while other allegations and prejudices took a steep decline, ritual murder cases increased.  Many writers postulated the existence of an on-going diabolical secret sect operating just below a thin veneer of Judaism -- in other words, a transgenerational religio-magical cult involved in blood rites and sorcery.  While these authors of older times knew practically nothing of what we now call the “cult phenomenon”, it is the most sensible explanation. 

The dialogue on these matters, however, came to an abrupt halt at the end of the Second World War.  An “Iron Curtain of Political Correctness” clamped the lid on this and several other questions.  The last books to cogently and diligently explore the ritual crime phenomenon were in 1938 and 1943. The only other works addressing the controversial and embarrassing allegations were refutations of what Judaists term “the blood libel”.  But today, the topic is emerging from this obscurity.  An Arabic work on the Damascus 1840 murders was published in 1985 with an English translation in 1991.  In 2000, a virtually unknown researcher named Philip de Vier released a private manuscript entitled Blood Ritual, which was later serialized in an international newspaper, and distributed by our company.  It is especially difficult to refute as it chronicles the entire history of the crimes, featuring well over 200 cases from ancient to modern times.  Later this year, this blockbuster will be released by National Vanguard Books.  And that is not all; even more material is emerging.  Brave researchers are translating the 1943 book (illegal in “democratic” Germany) into English, and there may soon be an Egyptian motion picture based on the very case we shall examine!  Yes, the “closet door” is opening, and will open more. 

This article is dedicated to victims of cultic crime.  As the reader will see, they were mostly lost and forgotten in the controversies, subjected to vilification, denigration and disrespect by those whom we shall term “Ritual Murder Deniers”.  Perhaps the tragic voices of the victims can now be heard again.
 

Thesis

Ritual murder cults have existed from prehistoric times to the present.  Almost all cultures and religions, including Northern Europeans, contain evidence of similar phenomena.  Cults sometimes came to control entire societies as evidenced by the Aztec, Maya and Inca cultures.  Such a sub-group became intertwined with the development of Hebraic religion from the earliest times as evidenced by the Old Testament.  While some writers accused the entire Judaic faith, this conclusion seems unwarranted, yet the roots are found in the Cabala, Talmud, and the more secretive oral traditions.  This blood cult was quite active during the mid-nineteenth century, and as we will demonstrate, the 1840 Damascus case was by no means the only one of its day.  The Damascus double murders were a momentous world event.  The case struck a chord with the international press who followed each and every detail.  The leadership of world Judaism mobilized to quash the matter permanently, but it could not be glossed over or simply dismissed as just another “senseless act of anti-Semitism”.[2]  The evidence was too strong and compelling.
 

Setting

 

Damascus is the oldest continually inhabited city on Earth.  Its narrow, winding alley-like streets lead to mosques and ancient Christian churches, and it is today a must-see city on any tour of exotic places.  The warren-like streets also led to ancient synagogues, signaling a Judaic presence since very ancient times.  Their population in 1840 Damascus was not small, numbering over 20,000, about the same number as then in Palestine.  In 1840, Syria was a province of the Ottoman Empire under the administration of Sherif Pasha, who functioned much like an independent ruler.  Damascus had always been an international city with a truly cosmopolitan culture.  Not only were the native Arabs, Christians, Jews and Turks resident in Damascus, but a European community as well, most of whom were involved in commerce or religious work.  Each country was represented in Damascus by consuls who formed a mini-diplomatic community similar to that found in world capitals.  Islam represented the dominant culture, but Syria is also home to the very earliest Christian Churches of the East.  Today it remains the seat of certain Eastern Orthodox Patriarchs.  Western Christianity was represented by the presence of Roman Catholic bishops and religious orders, and a few Anglicans and Protestants as well.  Christians and Jews had traditional legal status as “dhimmis," protected religious minorities with distinct rights and privileges in the Islamic state.  The Judaic community in Syria enjoyed many more privileges and opportunties than did some of their European co-religionists.

 

The Murders Were Not “An Isolated Incident”

 

The cases featured below were all in the Ottoman Empire, but the largest group of incidences anywhere in the world was in Europe.  For more, see  the massive Timeline in Blood Ritual, which incorporates those of Helmut Schramm, Arnold Leese, Sir Richard Burton and others.  The following list (featuring cases in and around the Near East), demonstrates amply that the 1840 Damascus murder was not at all an isolated incident.

1750s--Algeria: bribe money was used to quash the facts.  1791--Pera (Constantinople): Helmut Schramm records the ritual murder of a young Greek child.  1810--Aleppo, Syria: murder of a woman at Easter/Purim time.  1812--Isle Of Corfu: three Jews were convicted in the murder of three children.  Monniot in Le Crime Rituel Chez Les Juifs says the records were kept in the official archives of the island.  1821--Beirut, Lebanon: an adult Christian male was the victim.  1824--Beirut: Fatallah Sayegh, a Muslim, was slain for ritual purposes.  1824--Schramm cites yet another child ritual murder case on Corfu.  1826-1827--Antioch: at Easter, two Christian boys were ceremonially slain.  1829--Hama, Syria: the Jews of Hama slew a Muslim girl, and subsequently were expelled from the city.  1834--Tripoli, Libya: a Christian Greek fell victim.  1838--Jerusalem: There was an attempt to murder a Muslim for ritual purposes.  1847--Lebanon: Jews were apprehended after murdering a Christian boy.[3]  Nor were these the last cases to arise in Damascus, another occurring in 1890.[4]

 

The following two cases bear most directly on the Damascus murders.

1839--Beirut, Lebanon: Both Sir Richard Burton and Arnold Leese mention that inspectors detected a mysterious flask of blood while it passed through the Customs House in Beirut.  Leese gives the details:  “A Remittance of Blood.  During the Damascus Ritual Murder trial, the French Consul, Comte de Ratti-Menton, by whose energy and determination the case was brought to light, received a letter from Comte de Suzannet, who wrote: ‘Nearly a year ago, a box arrived at the custom-house that a Jew came to claim; on being asked to open it, he refused and offered first 100 Piastres, then 200, then 300, then 1,000 and at last 10,000 Piastres (2,500 Francs).  The custom-house official persisted, and opened the box, discovering therein a bottle of blood.  On asking the Jew for an explanation, the latter said that they had the custom of preserving the blood of their Grand Rabbis or important men.  He was allowed to go, and left for Jerusalem.’  Comte Ratti-Menton (also French Consul for Damascus) later looked for the chief of the custom-house, but found that he had died.  His successor only vaguely recollected the affair; but he confirmed that the box had several bottles of red liquid.  The man who came to claim the shipment was Aaron Stambouli of Damascus, who had told him the substance was an efficacious drug.”  The quick death of the chief custom-house officer is not surprising; witnesses to the crimes of Israel are subject to a sudden demise.  But the reader will perhaps be more interested by the fact that Aaron Stambouli was one of those found guilty in the Damascus murders the very next year.![5]
 

1840--Isle of Rhodes: This transpired at almost the same time as the better-known Damascus Affair.  The circumstances are familiar: a small boy, missing, last seen going into a home in the Jewish Quarter.  A public outrage and demand for action followed, and  Ottoman Governor Yusuf Pasha ordered an investigation.  As in Damascus, this was at the instigation of several European Consuls.  From here on, the Rhodes Case is a mishmash of charges, counter-charges and allegations.  The Alliance Israelite Universelles of France and other important Judaic organizations of the day, bribed the authorities, paralleling what happened in Damascus.  In yet another parallel, Austria withdrew its call for an investigation and supported dismissal of all charges.  Sir Moses Montefiore, Adolph Cremieux, and the Rothchild barons (financiers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) were successful -- the charges were dropped and the accused  freed.  The Greek Orthodox clergy and European consuls were left holding the bag, their honor impugned by involvement in a case with no results.  And the victim and his killers?  The case remained unsolved.  No one else was ever accused.
 

1839-1840 were active years for the ritual murder cult.  Jonathan Frankel displays a revealing map, showing cases that year not only in Damascus and Rhodes, but at four other locations as well:  Constantinople and Smyrna in the Near East as well as Schwetz, Prussia, and Julich, Bavaria.[6]   He also says:  “Falling into this category, too, were the many criminal investigations and trials in which Jews were accused of ritual murder.  Probably the best-known of such events in the period under discussion here was the Beiliss Trial held in Kiev in 1913.  Among contemporaries, especially the Jews in the countries involved, though, the cases of Tisza-Eszlar in 1882 (in Hungary), of Xanten in 1891 (in Prussia), and of Polna in 1899 (in Bohemia) engendered hardly less tension.  The Damascus affair of 1840, as already noted, caused an extraordinary sensation in its own time.”[7]  As the reader will soon see, this is an understatement.

 

The Abduction, Torture And Murder
Of Father Thomas and Ibrahim Amara

 

“He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter.”   Isaiah 53:7
 

Purim, that primitive festival of Jewish revenge, fell on 15 February 1830  On the fifth of February, Padre Tomaso (in English, Father Thomas; in Arabic, Abadri Tuma or Mar Toma), a Sardinian Catholic priest and monk of the Capuchin order, was reported missing along with his Arab servant, Ibrahim Amara, who had later gone in search of his employer.  This priest was no new arrival.  He knew his way around the city, so his failure to appear caused grave concern.  After several frightful days of nervous waiting, the Comte de Ratti-Menton, the French consul who represented the interests of the Kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont), asked the Ottoman governor to investigate.  Some maintain that living in such close quarters and narrow streets makes truly clandestine activity difficult, and this proved to be true.  Inquiries among those who had seen Padre Tomaso on his rounds eventually led to certain members of the Damascus Jewish community.  Dr. Helmut Schramm reports that the monk was lured into the house of David Harari (where he was killed) on the pretense of giving a vaccination.  Padre Tomaso provided free medical care to many, including Jews, and probably knew his abductors.  When the servant, Ibrahim Amara, went looking for his employer, he too was misled by the vaccination pretense.  The conspirators told him that the priest was in a nearby home, treating a child.  When Amara went there, he was seized and killed in the house of Meir Farhi, in the presence of several Jewish notables of Damascus.  After the killings and exsanguinations were complete, and the blood secured in bottles, the wealthy conspirators celebrated by having servants fill their Turkish pipes and serve alcoholic drinks.  In other words, they had a party.[8]
 

Later, Aaron, Isaac and Joseph Harari were also charged.  Suliman (Negrin) Al-Hallaq, a Jewish barber (like barbers of old, a minor surgeon and bloodletter) was arrested.  Along with the barber were Aslan Farki, and Mourad Al-Fathal.  Another conspirator, Rabbi Moussa (Moses) Al-Afieh, converted to Islam before confessing the details of the crime.  Yet another Rabbi, Moussa Bokhoor Yehuda (a.k.a. Salaniki), was arrested.  A Grand Rabbi, Yakub (Jacob) Al-Entabi (also rendered as Entebbe, Intebbe, Antabi, etc.), came before the Ottoman court to listen to the testimony of the new Muslim convert, and ostensibly, to refute it.[9]  But newspapers reported that the Grand Rabbi confirmed that some Jews practiced blood rites, and that he had received blood for this purpose.[10]
 

“The Consul General of Egypt wrote to the French Foreign Minister, on April 2, 1840: ‘I find myself obliged to present to you a copy of a report, which was sent to Mohammed Ali [Mehemet Ali in Turkish] and prepared by a Rabbi [Al-Afieh] who converted to Islam, that reveals to us the truth that human blood is necessary for the Jewish celebration of Yom Kippur.[11]  This strange discovery helps us understand the disappearance of large numbers of people without any knowledge of their fate, and certain Greek slaves bought by the Jews during the war may have disappeared for this reason.“[12]  As this monograph demonstrates, this was not the only case of this nature.  The French and the Austrian Consuls, by now on opposite sides, met several times to discuss the matter.
 

“The French Consul responded by saying that Mr. Laurin, the Austrian Consul, was not aware of the fact that the Jews of Damascus paid much of their gold in the case of Father Thomas Al-Capuchi because they knew, and for a long time, that they were responsible for the disappearance of a large number of other religious communities’ members.  He further referred to the huge sums of money offered by the Jews, as a bribe, to some French Consulate staff members to get them to cooperate in wiping out all traces of this crime.”[13]  The Austrians later made a proposal that the matter be handed over to a commission of four European Consuls.  Since the four “Europeans” were all of Judaic heritage, this essentially would have put the matter to a permanent rest.[14]
 

Soon stories of the ritualistic slayings began to reach the outside world with features in U.S. and European newspapers.  The Encyclopedia Judaica (1971 ed.) slyly injects a reference that Padre Tomaso was involved with “shady business,” but provides no evidence.  Charlotte Klein repeats the lie, saying the priest “had engaged in dealings as a kind of quack physician”, failing to mention that he was the first to use smallpox vaccinations (given free to all who asked) in Damascus.[15]  By all accounts, Padre Tomaso, as head of the Capuchin Order in Damascus, was a man respected by Christians, Jews and Muslims with who he dealt.  Tlass described him as a  “Capuchin priest, spent 33 years in Damascus (1807-1840).  He is familiar with Pharmacology and Medicine.  He used to treat the patients in Damascus free, Muslims, Christians or Jews.  He was skilled in the vaccination against smallpox, which he practiced for the first time in Damascus.  He rendered great human services during the proliferation of epidemics.  He was an object of trust, respect and love by all people.  On the day of the crime he happened to be in the Jewish Quarter treating a smallpox-struck Jewish boy.”[16]   These facts were largely ignored by the liberal press of the 1840s as they are today, who vilified the priest and his three decades of service to the people of Damascus.
 

On 02 March, a funeral was held, apparently a grand affair.  The  London Times said, “...the bones were enclosed therein [in a double coffin], then covered with black velvet, and we carried them from the consul’s house to the Church of the Holy Land (Terra Sancta) which is most spacious.  All the clergy of Damascus accompanied the coffin; the Greek priests bore it; the English, French and Austrian consuls assisted as the ceremony.  The streets were thronged with people...  The French consul had asked for a funeral oration, and Father Joseph of the Maronites undertook that office...  We then took in procession the shrine of our brother to the church of our order...  According to the consul’s desire, a suitable tomb will be erected...and an epitaph will perpetuate the remembrance of his death.”[17]

 

An International “Affair” Is Born
 

The story of the murders had become the “Damascus Affair”.  Writers who chronicle “anti-Semitism” rank the events of Damascus as one of the three great “anti-Semitic affairs” of the era (the others being the matter of Captain Dreyfus in France and the 1911-1913 Beiliss Case in Kiev.  Like these later cases, the Judaic establishment had to do everything possible to diminish the incidents, and later turn it to their advantage.[18]

Jewish wealth came to bear, and it was not all from outside the country.  The Ottoman authorities made a survey of the assets of the accused, recording the number of bags of gold, as shown below.  One bag equals five gold liras or 125 gold francs.  These were not poor, “ghetto Jews” dealing in old clothes or junk, but men of substantial means.

 

         Names of the Accused                              Number of Bags of Gold

 

            Murad Farhi                                                     5,000

            David Farhi                                                        500

            Isaac Harari                                                       500

            Aaron Harari                                                    5,000

            Joseph Harari                                                       300

            Joseph Lifyado                                                     100

            Moussa Abou Al-Afieh                                             50

            Moussa Salayankhi                                               500

            Aslan Farhi                                                          50

            Joseph Farhi                                                     2,000

            Yehya Meyer Farhi                                              300

            Jacob Abou Al-Afieh                                           100

            Aaron Islambouli (Stambouli)                                2,000
 

            Jacob Intabi                            (This rabbi reportedly lived on contributions with no wealth of his own.)[19]


 

 The Jews of Syria were not in some “backwater” -- they were international bankers and traders.  Most of them spoke Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and other European languages in addition to Arabic and Turkish.  While many Jews in Europe still labored under various restrictions, the community in Syria, especially in Damascus, enjoyed “a large measure of acceptance, as one among the major ethno-religious groups that by tradition made up the city.  They not only ran their own communal affairs, but to a degree unimaginable in contemporary Europe, were involved in public administration and high politics.” [20]

 

The Official Inquiry
 

The court eventually charged sixteen persons.  One of these, Isaac Picciotto, was a trusted employee of the Austrian Consulate, and nephew of the Austrian Consul General in Aleppo.  The Austrians and the French, due to international tensions and rivalries, found themselves on opposite sides of the question.  Several conspirators chose to confess rather than face judicial torture.  The international liberal press bemoaned the “horrible and inhumane treatment” of the prisoners.  The very existence of torture was supposed to invalidate any confessions and evidence produced in the process, thus totally exonerating the accused.  While no one defends torture as an investigative tool, the matter deserves a closer look.  Torture turns up both truth and lies.  Included in the information extracted was the exact location of the remains.  Parts of the bodies were found in a stream used as a sewer conduit.  The conspirators told how they had dismembered the corpses, crushing the bones before dumping the remains.   Tlass says:  “but the embarrassing fact was that the criminals presently in solitary confinement made, in separately held interrogations, statements which agreed, not to mention the results of the investigations conducted on the site.” [21]  Yes, torture was used, but the previously secret information can hardly be discounted as it was confirmed by major discoveries of evidence at the crime scenes.  At this point, even the Austrian Consul concurred,[22] and three European physicians also made the same findings.[23]  The Zionist Ritual Murder Deniers of today dispute that the bodies were those of the priest and his servant, but after 160 years, it’s hard to make that kind of judgment.  A official committee of five other doctors examined the remains and made the same conclusion. Helmut Schramm dealt with the case extensively in Der Judische Ritualmord, demonstrating that there was little doubt as to the validity of the forensic evidence.

“In the unfinished room [in David Harari’s house] in which the body was dismembered, blood spatters were discovered on the wall; in the places where the bones had been crushed, the floor was severely pounded in.  In addition, the pestel-mallet was already found, the slaughter knife remained missing.  Afterwards, the canal was searched more closely.  Workers were summoned who had to climb down under, and they advanced the investigation: broken pieces from bones, remains of flesh, a section of the heart, debris from the skull and pieces from the cowl of the Father... [and the] declaration of Austrian Consul Merlato, that he immediately recognized the black cloth cowl of the Father, because he had been the only one who wore such a thing... Since it could no longer be subject to any doubt that the mutilated remains of the Father had been found, the seven accused were brought forward and without any kind of threats whatsoever were again questioned about the occurrence of the horrible crime.” [24]

            Torture is repugnant to civilized society, but it was an interrogation method of the day in countries other than the Ottoman Empire.  In today’s terms, every police authority that existed in 1840 (including the U.S. and Europe) abused prisoners; kept them in cold, dank cells; did not feed them very well; did not inform them of their rights; did not provide an attorney; as well as other now-egregious tactics.  While no one advocates torture, this alone is not a reason to dismiss any and all evidence derived therefrom.  The confessions came through torture, true enough, but it revealed information that could only have been known by the perpetrators. 

            As well, the confessions, revealed the vulgar details of the diabolical rites.  The murderers killed the priest and his servant in the traditional ritual manner, torturing the victims and bleeding them dry while still conscious.  On 01 March 1840, the authorities conducted an interrogation of David, Isaac and Aaron Harari as well as Rabbi Moussa Abou Al-Afieh.  During this revealing interview, the accused, including Rabbi Moussa, gave chilling and repulsive accounts of the actual torture and murders, the exsanguination of the victims, and the preservation of the blood for later ceremonial use.  The description of the tortures and murders are thoroughly grotesque and horrifying, like something from a Stephen King or Clive Barker novel -- but sadly, they are not fiction at all.  For those readers requiring expanded details, the official transcripts of the confessions are found in General Tlass’ book.  Jonathan Frankel includes a particularly striking statement from Moussa Al-Afieh.   Rabbi Moussa admitted that the blood, preserved in bottles, was given to him, and then to Grand Rabbi Joseph Al-Entabi, who had instigated the ritual affair.  The Grand Rabbi had said:  “To fulfill what is required by our religious precepts, we need some blood; I have spoken with the Harari brothers, as the operation should take place in their house.  They have given me their promise to do it.  It is essential that you be there.”[25]  In the murder of Amara, Al-Afieh says that in addition to the others present, Rabbi Moussa’s brother, Jacob, was present along with Isaac Picciotto and Aslan Farhi.  “...each held him by a leg; the Rabbi Aaron Stambuli [also rendered as Istanbouli, etc.] pinned him down with a knee in his stomach, and Harari’s servant had him by the head.  While one of the others held the basin, two people seized hold of him by his middle and Murad Farhi, the richest banker in the city, cut the victim’s throat.”[26]

            The Ottoman tribunal also heard evidence of Talmudic traditions supporting ritual murder.  These were presented factually, and are hard to refute.[27]  The tribunal went to the trouble to order new translations of certain disputed passages.  The investigative committee, faced with overwhelmingly detailed and non-conflicting versions given by the accused, concluded that the blood was indeed used by some Judaists for preparation of ceremonial Matzah bread.  Jews of today say this is ridiculous because blood is supposedly repugnant to them, violating biblical laws.  And besides, say the Ritual Murder Deniers, the amount of blood needed would have meant hundreds of murders.  Before jumping to such conclusions, a closer analysis is in order.  No one ever said that the Torah affirmed any of this, but that it came from secret Talmudic, Cabalistic and oral traditions.  Those familiar with magic rituals and ceremonies know that only a small, symbolic amount would have been required.  Consequently, the blood of two persons would be quite ample for many such rites.  Some maintained that the blood cult always kept a supply in reserve in case of unforeseen developments such as the interception of a shipment in Beirut or the loss of cult members, and thus the blood, such as in Damascus.[28]

            So then, the accused conspirators provided the location of the  bodies in the sewer conduit, as well as intricate details of the murders.  At this point it would seem that we have a solved crime.  The confessions, albeit under duress, were proved valid by evidence at the crime scenes and the later  discovery of the victims’ remains.  “The reason for such actions [ritual murder] committed by the Jews center around three points:  1. their hatred toward the Christians;  2. their need for human blood to practice magic; and  3. the doubt of the Rabbis and the religious leaders that Jesus, the son of Mary, was the true Christ {Messiah].  Thus, the blood shed of his followers, they would be assured of their own salvation from eternal death.”[29]  This is, without doubt, a skewed and perverted belief system, but no more so than those of a similar illogical and cruel nature found all over the world.  Any student of the history of ceremonial magic (thaumaturgy) knows that blood is regarded as the most powerful of all the substances used in black rites.  Those who follow the details of present-day ritual crime know that this continues to be a grisly reality.[30] 

            At the end of April 1840, four were pardoned and the others judged guilty.  This brought relief to Damascenes as kidnappings and murders of Christian and Muslims children had gone on for years.  But in many cases that came before, there was either not enough evidence or the “golden rule” (“he who has the gold, rules”) ended the inquiries.  As witness to this, the Allgemeine Zeitung (Number 152, 1840) said that the rich conspirators  “...were used as business men steadily by the Pashas in command because of their wealth, thus they possessed significant influence, which made them frightful to the Christians there.  Although every year in Damascus Christian children suddenly disappeared without a trace, although the Jews were always under suspicion for it, no one dared accuse them, indeed, no one dared to pursue the trail of a well-founded suspicion, so great was their influence, which their money procured for them with the corruptible Turkish authorities.” [31]

 

Foreign Intervention And Bribes Succeed
Where Lies and Vilification Failed

 

            The newspaper readers of 1840 were divided.  The case was denounced by the howling of the Judaists and their liberal apologists -- and they did more than just howl and protest.  Judaic organizations worldwide mobilized to save the “innocent” Jews of Damascus.  Adolphe Cremieux, head of the French Alliance Israelite Universelles, the premier international Jewish organization of the day, came into direct opposition to the French government, who supported an investigation and trial.  Several European nations, led by Chancellor Metternich of Austria, opposed French expansionism, and Vienna was heavily indebted to Solomon Rothschild, head of the Austrian branch of the family banking cartel.  The Hapsburg monarchy firmly opposed increased French influence in the Neat East.  The Ottoman empire was derisively called “Sickman of Europe”, and in the face of large amounts of baksheesh (bribes), the authorities gave in to the Ritual Murder Deniers.   It was of utmost importance to get the case off the front pages of the world press.  Semi-autonomous khedives and pashas had effectively carved up the old Ottoman realm into virtually independent fiefdoms.  The Khedive of Egypt had control of Syria, and the powerful Jewish magnates of the day hotfooted it to Cairo, including Sir Moses Montefiore of Britain, Adolphe Cremieux of France and others.[32]  Guess what?  The Khedive, “convinced” by their arguments and augmented by a heavy bribe, issued a decree (firman) to release the accused.  This was a great victory for world Jewry.  The actual texts of the Khedive’s firman, did not totally exonerate the Jews, but released them in the best interests of good relations.  The Khedive gained greatly, but gave away little.  Besides, he must have viewed this as a dispute between two infidel religions with little real importance in the larger scheme of things. 

“Political and financial factors played a significant role in convincing Mohammed Ali Pasha to forgive these criminals.  He was in dire need of money, and the friendship of European governments, who were pursuing the English policy in order to remove the Syrian region from his rulership.  He also saw 60,000 bags of gold (300,000 gold liras) as being more valuable to the government than the execution of ten Jews.  Thus, he issued his order for their pardon and their release.  Most of these men and their families moved to Egypt, where they remained, fleeing from the anger of the Christians and Muslims of Damascus.”  In Egypt, on orders from the Khedive, they released the convicted on the 15th. of September 1840, when the curtain was drawn on this crime.” [33]

            The international Jewish bribery squad led by Montefiore and Cremieux, did not stop there.  Flushed with success, they headed directly for the “Sublime Porte” (“the heavenly gates”), the court of the Sultan himself, Abdul Majid.  Again money and loan guarantees (crucial to the land-rich, but money-poor empire) produced another firman, this one a bit more specific in denying the ritual nature of the crimes.  The Khedive had raked in much loot; certainly the Sultan was worth even more.  What oriental despot could resist?  And what real difference did it make anyway?  An absolute ruler can do as he pleases.  The Jewish establishment had succeeded.  The Damascus case was now dismissed by them as just a couple of unsolved murders, and no longer occupied space in the international press.  Then as now, other stories quickly took its place.  Then and now, the public mind has a short attention span.

The Aftermath

            The French Consul, the Count de Ratti-Menton, was left holding the bag, and was rightfully bitter, saying in a private letter: “It is hard to describe the impression... made on the Muslim and Christian population.  All day the Christians and many Muslims have been coming to the consulate to find out what would have motivated this action which to them is incomprehensible.”  He added that the celebrations in the Jewish Quarter included street parties and a puppet show in which Father Thomas and the Count were prominent figures.[34]

            In a most interesting sidelight, during the questioning of Abou Al-Afieh, the Rabbi Moussa testified as to the existence of a book called Sirf Hodovot, saying  “It contains many incidents in which court cases have been brought against the Jews, and they always claim that these cases are nothing but lies and accusations.  In their book, they present the details of the cases against the Jews in the matter of blood.” [35]  Unfortunately, no copy was found among the possessions of the accused, but only an inner circle would have accessed such a compendium.  Knowing the intricate details of almost every case would greatly assist in formulating alibis and rationalizations by the defense.

            Money, power and influence brought an end to the Damascus Affair, seldom mentioned except as a footnote to history, an example of “blatant anti-Semitism”.  Some theorized that the priest and his servant fell victim to thieves, but several factors weigh against such a facile conclusion.  First, thieves rarely kill as it brings too much “heat”.  Second, a monk and his servant would not offer much physical resistance, and would be seen as “easy marks," posing no threat.  But while undoubtedly a “soft target," a monk, under a vow of poverty, would carry only enough money for small purchases.  This is not what a thief is seeking.  The body disposal (a perennial problem for murderers) was well-planned and executed, thus quite untypical of the criminal profile of robbers.  Furthermore, a European priest, head of a local monastery, was a public figure, not a scenario usually chosen by thieves, making this explanation even more untenable. 

            Padre Tomaso lies today in a tomb in Damascus.  A monument was erected with an inscription in Arabic and Italian, saying:

“HERE LIES THE REMAINS OF FATHER THOMAS OF SARDINIA, CAPUCHIN MISSIONARY, ASSASSINATED BY THE JEWS, 5TH. FEBRUARY 1840.” 

Ever since 1840, the Ritual Murder Deniers have sought to remove or destroy the monument, seen as an “offense” to their religion.  In 1866, the remains and the monument were moved from the Capuchin Monastery chapel to the more spacious Terra Sancta Church, where it remains, still a source of controversy and contention.  During the papal repudiation of the “Blood Libels” that accompanied the liberal-dominated Second Vatican Council, further efforts were made to remove it.  We are pleased to report, however, that these efforts have failed.  It is pictured in Frankel’s book, but Matzah Of Zion has color photos of the Terra Sancta church and the inscription.[36]

            Achille Laurent and Gougenot des Mousseaux (see reference list) preserved detailed accounts of the investigations and trial from Arabic and European newspapers.  The official dossier on the case vanished from the French Foreign Office records, but later mysteriously reappeared, something like Hillary Clinton’s billing records.  Seventy-four years later, the Foreign Office rebuffed Albert Moniot when he sought to obtain the dossier for his book, Le Crime Rituel Chez Les Juifs (1914).  Sir Richard Burton, famed explorer, linguist and Orientalist, was British Consul in Damascus in 1870, when he looked into the charges.  Because of his writings and opinions of Judaism[37], pressure came to remove him from his post.  Burton always regarded the Damascus Affair as a legitimate case of Jewish ritual murder.  The foreword of his 1898 book, The Jew, The Gypsy And El Islam (published posthumously eight years after his death) mentions an Appendix on the Damascus Case and other ritual crimes.  Meant as a commentary on the rites of human sacrifice among the oriental Jews, it focused heavily on the murder of Padre Tomaso and Ibrahim Amara.  It has never been published, and for a time, was believed to have been destroyed by Burton’s wife.  Nevertheless, it reportedly still exists, but even liberal Jewish scholars are not allowed to see it.[38]

Conclusion

            The Damascus Case was a prime and classic example of the underground ritual murder cult in action.  Philip de Vier developed a twelve point Criminal Profile for ritual murder crimes, and these two murders fit it like a glove.[39]  Perhaps it was a “Freudian slip”, but Adolphe Cremieux revealingly said, “If the Jewish religion commands murder,...let us -- enlightened Jews, Christians, Muslims -- rise up as one man and abolish...this barbarous and sacrilegious cult.”[40]  To get away with boldly killing and desecrating a figure such as a high-profile Catholic priest certainly fits the modus operandi and the Criminal Profile.  So let us reflect.  Surely by this time in history, the Jewish leadership had made some efforts to stamp out or at least partially suppress this worrisome sub-sect and its diabolical rites.  This was truly a cult of zealots, as they say, of biblical proportions.[41]  They appear to thrive on bold, in-your-face misdeeds.  Yet more rational Jews must have lamented the deaths of thousands of Jews caused by this group of transgenerational serial killers.  This must have been not only a source of discomfiture and chagrin for many Jews, but also a cause for shame and embarrassment in any of them with a conscience.  Thus, we can postulate at least some efforts to suppress it.  However the tendencies to simply lie, deny, vilify and decry seemed to prevail.  The Damascus Affair, though suppressed, was not to be the last Blood Accusation of the nineteenth century -- far from it.

“[We] confirmed a rule of criminal investigation first promulgated in Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, and made a part of the B.S.U. canon  [Behavioral Sciences Unit of the F.B.I.] ...  Once all other possibilities are eliminated, whatever is left, however improbable, is what happened.”    

                                                                                From The Evil That Men Do (1998), a true story of F.B.I. Profilers.

More Recent Developments

1984, Geneva, Switzerland.  Saudi Delegate Raises The Blood Accusation.  During a three day congress to combat “religious intolerance,” Ma’aruf Al-Dawilibi, the Saudi Arabian delegate, confronted the conference with the facts of the Blood Accusations, making extensive references to the Damascus Affair of 1840.  The Ritual Murder Deniers sought to have the 25 participating nations condemn this “libel.”  To their great surprise, only 3 states (other than Israel and its protector, the U.S.) supported them.  Ma’aruf Al-Dawilibi was personal secretary to Hajj Amin Al-Husayni, the former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, whom the Zionists had declared a “war criminal” after he spoke against them on European radio during Second World War.

1991, New York City, The United Nations.  Ritual Murder Allegations Raised At U.N. As Human Rights Issue.  Ms. Nabila Chaalan, a Syrian delegate to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights revived the Blood Accusations against the Zionists.  The delegate urged the members of the Commission to read Mustafa Tlass’ Matzah Of Zion.  This created quite a furor as at the same time Syria was allied with the U.S. and Europe against Sadaam Hussein.  Efforts failed to have Ms. Chaalan’s diplomatic credentials revoked.

1999, Zionists Pressures French Academics -- Sorbonne Doctorate Denied.  General Mustafa Tlass, Syrian Defense Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, attorney, Member of the Syrian Academy and historical scholar, was denied an earned doctorate from the University of Paris due to Zionist pressure.  The Zionists opposed him solely on the basis of Matzah of Zion, a completely separate work from his dissertation, which was entitled Geohistory And Geopolitics Of Natural Syria.[42] 

2001, The following is excerpted from a dispatch issued by The Middle East Media and Research Institute -- MEMRI.  Such items must surely give the Ritual Murder Deniers a case of apoplexy!

“The Arab Answer to Schindler’s List.  In 1983, the Syrian Minister of Defense Mustafa Tlass, one of the pillars of the Syrian Ba’athist regime, wrote the book Matzah of Zion, in which he describes [the Damascus Case]...  Minister Tlass presented his accusation as a historical fact and even declared in an interview...with Der Spiegel[43], that his book is ‘an historical study...based on documents from France, Vienna and the American University in Beirut.’  The U.S. Secretary of State, George Schultz, instructed the American ambassador in Damascus to meet with Minister Tlass and to protest the publication of the book, but Tlass refused to meet,,, claiming that he had ‘nothing to say to him.

Matzah of Zion -- The Movie.  ... the Egyptian weekly, Roz-Al-Yussuf reports that Egyptian producer, Munir Radhi, is making a film adaptation of the book. ... According to Roz Al-Yussuf[44] Minister Tlass asked Radhi: ‘Aren’t you afraid of what might happen to you... because the book openly accuses the Zionist movement of being behind the assassinations of people who exposed the Zionist conspiracy right from the start?’  Radhi responded that he was not afraid, and the project got on its way.  ...Roz Al-Yussuf reported that Egyptian actor Omar Al-Sharif, best known for his role in Dr. Zhivago is a candidate for the lead role, and that two other Egyptian actors will appear in the film.

The Goal: An Answer to Schindler’s List.  It has not yet been decided whether the film will have the same title as the book on which it is based, The Matzah of Zion, or whether it will be changed to Harari’s List, after the name of the head of the Jewish community in Damascus who was accused of murdering Father Toma to use his blood for baking Matzahs. ... The plot is based on the true story of the murder of the priest, who is portrayed in the film as an amiable character, who loved life and took part in the holidays and the celebrations of the people of  Damascus and solved their everyday problems. ... The script will expose much more horrible things than this loathsome crime,  The connection between Western colonialism and the Zionist movement, and the way in which the Jews were used in colonialist conspiracies...will be exposed through documents found by the movie’s heroes when they are investigating the murder of Father Toma.” [45]

SELECTED RESOURCES ON THE 1840 DAMASCUS CASE

Readers are directed to Jonathan Frankel’s very complete bibliography which includes numerous journal and newspaper articles.  The following items are presented in order of publishing dates.

Loewenstein, L. H., Damascia or The Persecution of the Jews in Damascus and its effect on public opinion; in German.  Schramm says in his footnotes (#25): “This book, numbering over 400 pages, according to its entire layout is a commissioned work inspired by the highest Jewish-diplomatic circles, which at any rate permits extremely valuable insights into the cosmopolitan machinations of the Jewish Internationale.  Appeared 1840 published by Lehrberger at Rudelheim.”

Relation Historique Des Affaires De Syrie Depuis 1840 A’ 1842 by Achille Laurent.  Over 400 pages, this book has virtually every document and other evidence and arguments of the case. 

Daumer, Georg Friedrich, The Fire and Moloch Worship of the Ancient Hebrews as the Original, the Legal and Orthodox Cult of the Nation (Historically and Critically Proved); in German, 1842.

Ghillany, Friedrich Wilhelm, Human Sacrifice and the Ancient Hebrews: An Historical Investigation, 1842, and Judaism and Criticism, Or the Survival of Human Sacrifice Among the Hebrews, and the Necessity for a Timely Reform of Judaism, 1844.  All are in German.

“Mysteries of the Talmud -- Terrible Murder in the East”, The New York Herald, No. 5781, Morning Edition of Saturday, 06 April 1850.

Le Juif, Le Judaisme Et La Judaisation Des Peuples Cretiens by Henri Roger Gougenot des Mousseaux.  In English, The Jew, Judaism And The Judaization Of The Christian People (Paris: 1869).  Available only in French or German.  The book contains a full chapter on Damascus.  Gougenot des Mousseaux was knighted by the Pope.  Some, including Helmut Schramm, say that poisoners killed the exceptional Frenchman.

Der Talmud in der Theorie und in der Praxis, 1866.  This has over thirty pages on the case.

The Use Of Christian Blood By Jews In Their Rituals by Father Hypolite’ Lyutostansky, 1869. 

Rohling, The Rev. Canon August, Talmudjude (Mit einem Vorwort von Eduard Drumont) (Leipzig: 1871).  This book went into many editions well into the 20th. century.  In addition, it was translated into French, Polish, Hungarian and Arabic.  Canon Rohling’s book contains a thorough account of the Damascus murders.

La Civilta Cattolica is official Vatican-published journal of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).  In 1881-1882, it published a lengthy series of articles naming the Jews as practitioners of blood rites and murder, plus a list of such crimes.  See also Father Guiseppe Oreglia in La Civilta Cattolica.  In the issue of April 1881, they included quotes from former Rabbi David Drach, an early nineteenth century Christian convert.  His book, De L’harmonie Entre L’eglise et la Synagogue, published in 1844, asserted that the Jews of Damascus had indeed been responsible for the murder of Padre Tomaso.  See also Charlotte Klein’s article, “Damascus to Kiev: Civilta Cattolica on Ritual Murder” as found in Dundes’ The Blood Libel Legend.

Observatore Romano, Issue No. 8434, 1892.  This particular issue editorialized on what they referred to as:  “...irrefutable evidence of ritual murder perpetrated by the Jews in obedience to The Talmud.”

The Jew, The Gypsy And El Islam by Sir Richard Burton.  (London: 1898).  Richard Burton, knighted by Queen Victoria for his service in India and the East, was the consummate scholar, traveler and adventurer of the Victoria Era.  He mastered  some thirty-five languages (over 50 counting dialects), including Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew, Hindi, Farsi, Romani and others.  After his military service in India and The Crimea, he entered the British Consular Service, and served Damascus from 1869 to 1871.  Sir Richard’s inquiring mind was stimulated by the case, which he began to research as he could read all the records in their original languages.  Because of his keen interest in the subject, and his open opposition to usurers, Judaists in Damascus and Europe requested (and got) his transfer out of Syria.[46]

The Jewish Encyclopedia, 1903 edition contains a lengthy article on the Damascus Case.

Cesare Algranati, an Italian Jewish convert to Roman Catholicism, published Cahiers Romains in Rome in 1913.  It surveyed over 100 cases of ritual murder, 27 of which are in the 19th. century.

Streicher, Julius, Editor/Publisher, “Der Sturmer” Newspaper, Special ‘Ritual Mord’ Edition of May 1934, originally published in Nuremburg, Germany in May 1934.  It was published by Sons of Liberty Books in 1976, English Translation by Eva-Maria Hood, edited by L. Craig Fraser and Thomas E. O’Brien. In addition to abundant information on many ancient and medieval cases, the hotly controversial issue includes Damascus.  While always vilified as a “Nazi hate newspaper”, almost all of the special issue came from old court records, documents, books, and artworks depicting ritual murders.

My Irrelevant Defence: Meditations Inside Gaol And Out On Jewish Ritual Murder by Arnold Leese, 1938. 

Although a comparatively slim volume, it is invaluable to the researcher as Leese does an excellent job arranging the cases, the refutations and the surrounding literature in a manageable and understandable format.  He lists page after page of cases, Papal Bulls and other details of ceremonial slayings, including Damascus.  This book has been translated into many languages and reprinted uncounted times.

On the one hundredth anniversary of Father Thomas’ assassination, the entire collection of Arab documents was published from the Egyptian archives.  See Asad, Rustum, Al-Usul Al-Arabiyya, Vol. 5, pp. 1-41.  Frankel says there is no significant difference between the Arabic documents and those in French, indicating that no one has tampered with the records.

Schramm, Helmut. Der Judische Ritualmord -- Eine Historische Untersuchung (Berlin: T. Fritsch, 1943). During the heat of the Second World War, Dr. Helmut Schramm completed and published his extensive chronicle of ritual murder, containing a detailed report on the murder of Father Thomas.  See the final item for information on an English translation currently under way.

Mustafa Tlass’ Matzah Of Zion  came out in 1968 and again in 1985-1986 in Arabic, with an English edition in 1991.

Jonathan Frankel’s The Damascus Affair: Ritual Murder, Politics And The Jews In 1840 was published by the Cambridge University Press in 1997.  This is a useful source for a history of the case from the Ritual Murder Deniers’ point of view.  It is heavily footnoted throughout. Yet how exited can one get about a book that begins with a false premise?  The very first page in the book, before the title page, gives a capsulation of the case, which ended with the statement, “this is the first book since the 1840s to analyze the case”, purposely ignoring Mustafa Tlass’ Matzah of Zion.  However, on p. 418, Frankel begrudgingly acknowledges Tlass’ book, but misspells the general’s name, and says nothing substantive about it.

In 2001, an on-going translation project is underway to bring Helmut Schramm’s Der Judische Ritualmord  to English language readers.  It is currently being translated by R. Belser, and will be posted on the Internet at:

http://www.vanguardnewsnetwork.com/schramm.htm. 

The working title is Chronicle of Jewish Ritual Murders.  We again acknowledge and sincerely thank researcher Mark Farrell for alerting us to this project, and sharing the first completed portions by way of hardcopy and CD ROM.

SELECTED GENERAL RESOURCES

The following works are suggested on the general topic of Jewish ritual murder.  The titles are indexed by the author’s last name.  This is a very short list, but provides an ample introduction to this fascinating field of research, and will direct the reader to many other sources.

• De Vier, Philip, Blood Ritual: An Investigative Report Examining A Certain Series of Cultic Murders (Corpus Christi: Eagle Publications, 2000).
• De Vier, Philip, Teachings of the Talmud: A commentary on the people called Jews and the collection of writings known as the Talmud. (Corpus Christi: Eagle Publications, 2000). Features quotations selected from the original London 1898 edition of The Jew, The Gypsy And El Islam by Sir Richard Burton, with the complete and unexpurgated controversial chronicle of Jewish Ritual Crime.  Includes explication and analysis from the works of Benjamin Freedman and Fr. Justin B. Pranaitis, M.Theol.
• Dundes, Alan, Ed., The Blood Libel Legend: A Casebook in Anti-Semitic Folklore (Madison WI: U. of WI Press, 1991.  This is a compendium of fourteen articles and a large bibliography.  All, of course, are refutations, but provide excellent case materials for further research.
• Hsia, R. Po-chia, The Myth Of Ritual Murder: Jews And Magic In Reformation Germany (New Haven: Yale U. Press, 1988).  This contains a large bibliography of German source materials.
• Oke, Isaiah (as told to Joe Wright), Blood Secrets, The True Story Of Demon Worship And Ceremonial Murder (Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1989).  This African account is strangely reminiscent of the tales of the Jewish murder cult, demonstrating that ritual crime all over the world has a similar modus operandi and criminal profile.  This little-known, out-of-print book contains perhaps the most chilling account of a ritual murder ever recorded anywhere.
• Roth, Cecil, “The Feast of Purim and the Origin of the Blood Accusation” in “Speculum” (October 1933).  This article is included in its entirety in Dundes’ The Blood Libel Legend.
• Roth, Cecil, The Ritual Murder Libel And The Jew, The Report By Cardinal Lorenzo Ganganelli {Pope Clement XIV}, (London: Woburn Press, 1935).
• Satan’s Drummers: The Secret Beat Of Evil, Number 9 of the Phoenix Journals series.  (Las Vegas, NV: Phoenix Source Publishers, Inc., 1989, 1995).  A look into the truly evil roots of ritual satanic crime and its perpetrators.
• Strack, H. L., Das Blut Im Glauben Und Aberglauben Der Menscheit, Mit Besonderer Berucksichtigung Der Volksmedizen Und Des Jusischen Blutritus, Eighth Edition (Munich: 1900).  Translated into English as The Jew And Human Sacrifice (London: 1909).

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