Fornaraki affair

The Fornaraki affair was an accusation of Jewish ritual murder which was made in Egypt in 1881.

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History

On May 18, 1881, Evangeli Fornaraki, a nine year-old Greek Orthodox boy, disappeared in Alexandria.[1] False rumours soon began to spread that he was kidnapped and murdered by the Jewish Barukh family, who were mostly of Greek nationality, with the intention of using his blood for ritual purposes.[2] Members of the family were interrogated and arrested,[1] and anti-Jewish riots broke out in Alexandria.[3]

On May 23 a boatman discovered the body on the seashore.[4] An international commission consisting of thirty-four doctors and the delegates of all the consuls examined the case, and, with the exception of two Greeks, agreed that the child had met with an accidental death by drowning. This was substantiated by the fact that the grains of sand were found in the lungs, showing conclusively that the child was living at the moment it fell into the sea. The Jewish community also appealed to the arbitration of Paul Brouardel, a well-known professor of medical jurisprudence, who testified to the absence of the slightest trace of violence, and endorsed the opinion of the commission.[5][6] In addition, the Patriarch of Constantinople, Joachim III, published a letter of protest.[7]

Nevertheless, the members of the Barukh family were transported to Corfu, imprisoned, and ill-treated. However, on January 4, 1882, they were freed by the Corfu tribunal.[7]

See also

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Deutsch, Gotthard; Franco, M. (1903). "Fornaraki Affair". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 436.

  1. Miccoli, Dario (October 2011). "Moving Histories: The Jews and Modernity in Alexandria, 1881–1919". Quest: Issues in Contemporary Jewish History (2): 149–171.
  2. Landau, Jacob M. (1991). "Ritual Murder Accusations in nineteenth-Century Egypt". In Dundes, Alan (ed.). The Blood Libel Legend: A Casebook in Anti-Semitic Folklore. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 197–232. ISBN 978-0-299-13113-5. OCLC 667292722.
  3. Miccoli, Dario (2015). Histories of the Jews of Egypt: An Imagined Bourgeoisie, 1880s–1950s. Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern History. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-317-62421-9.
  4. L'affaire Fornaraki à Alexandrie: Rapport de la commission d'enquête (in French). Paris: Alliance Israëlite Universelle. 1881.
  5. Bermingham, Edward J., ed. (February 25, 1882). "Medical Notes and News". The Medical Gazette. New York: 96.
  6. Brouardel, P. (1881). L'Affaire Fornakari à Alexandrie: consultation médico-légale (in French). Paris: J. B. Baillière et fils.
  7.  Deutsch, Gotthard; Franco, M. (1903). "Fornaraki Affair". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 436.
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