A right-wing Catholic priest declared during his libel trial in Troyes that to release the Jews from the responsibility for Jesus’ death “would be to deny Christ and insult his disciples.” Father Georges de Nantes, who heads an ultra right-wing splinter group of the Catholic. Church is more and more making a distinction between Jews and Judeans, the inhabitants of Judea.
Father de Nantes is on trial as a result of a libel suit by French lawyer Jacques Isorni who has asked the French court to absolve the Jews from responsibility for Jesus’ death and pin it on Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor at the time.
Isorni is the author of a book. “The True Trial of Jesus.” in which he contends that Jesus was crucified not because he claimed he was the son of God but because he led an anti-Roman guerrilla group. Thus, in his hypothesis, the Jews were not guilty of decide. Father de Nantes, who contends he is against all forms of racism has accused Isorni of “falsifying the New Testament” in order to serve the Jews and clear them of their collective guilt.
Isorni, who is asking for a symbolic one franc compensation, has asked the court to find Father de Nantes guilty, “as otherwise you will be justifying him for preaching the massacre of the Jews.” The court is scheduled to deliver its decision Dec. 11.
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.
