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16 Dig.: Nat'l Italian Am. B. Ass'n L.J. 1 (2008)
Anti-Semitism in Criminal Courts: The Case of the Rhodes Blood Libel

handle is hein.journals/digst16 and id is 3 raw text is: Anti-Semitism in Criminal Courts: The Case of the Rhodes Blood Libel EDWARD J. MAGGIO, ESQ.* INTRODUCTION Throughout the development of criminal and evidentiary legal codes in human civilization, courts have developed to become beacons of truth and jus- tice. What few realize is that criminal courts have also been used throughout history for anti-Semitic purposes. Since ancient times, criminal courts and pro- ceedings around the world have been used to accuse Jews of murdering others for the sake of taking a victim's blood. Known as a Jewish blood libel, this. legal version of anti-Semitism exists with us even today in various countries around the world.' Developing strongly since the medieval period, the Jewish blood libel became a legal way in which Jews could be targeted for removal in a community or for spreading malicious and hateful propaganda against them. In examining the famous case of the Rhodes Blood Libel of 1840, the role of criminal court proceedings as a tool of hatred is clearly demonstrated. I. BLOOD LIBEL: ORIGINS It is important to first understand the notion of a blood libel. Blood libels are sensationalized and fictional allegations that a person or group engages in mur- der, often accompanied by the claim that the blood of the victims is used in various religious rituals or consumed outright for some nefarious purpose.2 The alleged victims are often young children since they would be easier victims to capture, control and murder. When examining claims of blood libels against. Jews, the idea is that Jews must kill Christian boys in compliance with Kosher- Jewish law in order to take their blood for use in matzos during Passover.3 The * Edward J. Maggio is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at the New York Institute of Technology. He received his J.D. from New York Law School in 2002, and his M.S. in Criminology & Criminal Justice from Oxford University in 2003. For further information, Edward J. Maggio can be contacted at emaggio@nyit.edu 1. OBSEssION: RADICAL ISLAm's WAR AGAINST iE WEST (Trinity Home Entertainment 2007); see also Jane S. Gerber, Anti-Semitism and the Muslim World, in HISTORY AND HAE: THE DimENsioNs OF ANm-SEMrTISM 88 (David Berger ed., The Jewish Publication Society 1986). 2. THE BLOOD LIBEL LuGENo: A CASEBOOK IN ANT-SnMrrc FOLKLORE vii (Alan Dundes ed., The University of Wisconsin Press 1991); Abraham G. Duker, Twentieth-Century Blood Libels in the United States, in Thu BLooD LmEL LEGND, supra, at 233-242; Cecil Roth, The Feast of Purim and the Origins of the Blood Accusation, in TiE BLOOD LIBEL LEGEND, supra, at 261; Alan Dundes, The Ritual Murder or Blood Libel Legend: A Study of Anti-Semitic Victimization through Projective Inversion, in TimBLooD LmL LEGENrD, supra, at 337. 3. Steven Stalinsky, Passover and the Blood Libel, Thn NEw YORK SUN, Apr. 12, 2006, at Foreign 6.

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