Scholar Withdraws Book on 'Blood Libel' That Ignited Fierce Criticism

By FRANCIS X. ROCCA

Rome

A new book by an Italo-Israeli scholar of Jewish history that revisits violent controversies involving medieval and Renaissance Christians and Jews has been withdrawn from circulation at the request of the author, who now says that news accounts distort what he actually says.

The scholar, Ariel Toaff, is a professor...