The author of the article in the Hibbert Journal, Ray Knight, who states that “the charge of ritual murder persistently brought against the Jews and always dismissed as a malignant calumny is proved up to the hilt by their own scriptures” is sharply criticized while surprise is expressed that L. P. Jack, editor of the quarterly should have permitted this statement to appear, by Benammi, prominent Jewish columnist, writing in the July 29th issue of the London Jewish Chronicle which has just reached this country.
Quoting the Ray Knight statement on Jews and ritual murder, Benammi declares: “The Jewish reader will rub his eyes in wonder. Where is he? What is he reading? The writer of this damnable charge, who hails from Assam, gives himself a very poor testimonial for scholarship or fairness. But that Mr. L. P. Jacks, of all people, should have printed stuff of this sort is incomprehensible. Is it a case of Homer caught napping? Or is Saul also among the Prophets? By penning these words the writer of the note really shows that he is unfit to write in the Hibbert journal. Does he (or is it she?) not know that early Christians were also accused of ritual murder? Does he not know that the Bible prohibits blood as food, and that down to this day Jews have an abhorrence of blood, so much so that they will not eat an egg with a spot of blood in it? Has he ever heard of the numerous Popes who have publicly expressed their abhorrence of the shameful accusation? Has he ever read Professor Strack’s comprehensive study of this subject and does he know the conclusion at which this famous Christian theologian arrives? We say to Ray Knight what Tertullian, one of the Church Fathers, said to those who accused the early Christians of what Ray Knight accuses the Jews: ‘If you really believe it, prove it; if you cannot, cease to believe it!’
“It is quite evident that Ray Knight cannot be regarded as an authority. To repeat so terrible an accusation on so flimsy a basis betokens stupidity or irresponsibility, or both. But what is difficult to understand is this: How comes it that a person of such crude and prejudiced judgments is allowed to write in the Hibbert Journal?” Benammi concludes.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
