A ritual murder accusation has again made its appearance in Damascus, the nest of similar anti-Jewish libels which agitated world public opinion during the nineteenth century, calling forth the famous intervention of the late Sir Moses Montefiore.
The Beirut press, including the French language newspapers, devote much space today to a description of an agitation caused yesterday among the Damascus population when a demented Jew, named Chattah, was held by the authorities on the charge of having kidnapped a five-year-old girl. The newspapers relate that Chattah was found carrying the little girl in bag. When passersby noticed the movement in the bag, they questioned Chattah, who asserted that he was carrying a dog in the bag. The child, found to be uninjured, was returned to her parents by the police.
The newspapers, reporting this incident, recall the agitation which followed a similar accusation, made against the Jews of Damascus in 1892 when it was asserted, and later disproved, that a Christian girl was the victim of a “ritual murder” by Jews.
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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.
