Blood Libel: The Damascus Affair of 1840

In Damascus, in February 1840, a Capuchin monk and his servant disappear without a trace. Rumors point at the local Jewish community. Within weeks, the rumors turn to accusations of ritual murder - the infamous ""blood libel."" Torture, coerced confessions, manufactured evidence, and the fury of the crowds are enough to convict the accused Jews. By the time the rest of the world learns of the events in Damascus, the entire leadership of the Jewish community is awaiting execution. Vicious charges of ritual murder had been heard in Europe for centuries and are heard in the Middle East today - but everything else here was turned around. The accusers of the Jews were not the Muslim majority. The French consul was the chief prosecutor, aided by the British consul, with the support of the American consul. The affair became a cause celebre in Europe and the Americas, the priorities of diplomacy intervened, and the fabric of a society that had once stretched to tolerate minorities finally burst in an outrage of fears turned to fury. The legacies of that torn fabric, and the continuing myths, feed and sustain the fervor of anti-Semitism today.