Israeli historian confirms Jewish blood libel claims

Posted: 14-02-2007 , 16:22 GMT

At least some part of the blood-libel against Jews in Europe was based on actual ceremonies in which Jews reportedly used Christian blood, maintains a new historical research report recently published in Italy by an Israeli historian. "Passover of Blood," a report by Professor Ariel Tuaf of Israel's Bar-Ilan University, has already drawn fire from academic researchers discounting the study. However, such criticism was quickly snuffed by Tauf, who had also received several threats for publishing his work, in recent interviews with the Italian media.

Tauf, who until one year ago served as the department head of the Israel Studies department at the Bar-Ilan University, is considered an international expert on the Jewish community in Italy during the Middle Ages. His father, Eliyahu Tauf, was the head rabbi of Rome and one of the top figures of the Jewish leadership in Europe who had a central role in managing relations between the Catholic Church, Israel, and the Jewish people, according to Haaretz.