2009 Aftonbladet Israel controversy
Encyclopedia
The Aftonbladet-Israel controversy refers to the controversy that followed the publication of a 17 August 2009 article in the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet
alleging that Israeli troops harvested organs from Palestinians that died in their custody. The article sparked a fierce debate in Sweden
and abroad, and created a rift between the Swedish and Israel
i governments. Israeli officials denounced the report at the time, labeling it "anti-Semitic," but did not comment on the specific allegations.
The article was written by Swedish freelance photojournalist Donald Boström
, and was titled "Våra söner plundras på sina organ" ("Our sons are plundered of their organs"). It presented allegations that in the late 1980s and early 1990s, many young men from the West Bank
and Gaza Strip
had been seized by Israeli forces and their bodies returned to their families with missing organs.
The Israeli government and several US congresspersons condemned the article as baseless and incendiary, while noting the history of antisemitism and blood libels against Jews, and asked the Swedish government to denounce it. Stockholm refused, citing freedom of the press
and the country's constitution
. Swedish ambassador to Israel Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier condemned the article as "shocking and appalling", stating that freedom of the press carries responsibility, but the Swedish government distanced itself from her remarks. Lena Posner-Körösi, a leader of the Jewish community in Stockholm and the president of the Official Council of Jewish Communities in Sweden explained that "freedom of expression is sacred" to Swedes, as to Israelis and that no one in Sweden "understand how Israel dares to interfere." She also criticized Aftonbladet stating in the letter to editor Jan Helin, that "Jewish Central Council in Sweden insist that the description resembles classic anti-Semitism - Jews who kidnap children to slaughter them and steal their blood. We look with amazement at how a Swedish newspaper again permits its pages to such hate speech and expect that you, as editor and publisher to reject anti-Semitic statements." Italy
made a stillborn attempt to defuse the diplomatic situation through a European resolution condemning antisemitism. The Palestinian Authority announced it would establish a commission to investigate the article's claims.
The Swedish and Israeli media were highly critical of the article, and all cultural editors of other major Swedish newspapers argued that the article, based on old hearsay and rumors, should never have been published. However, the Swedish Newspaper Publishers' Association and Reporters Without Borders
supported Sweden's refusal to condemn it. Meanwhile, family members of Bilal Ghanem, the Palestinian at the center of the article's claims, stated that they had never told Boström that Ghanem's organs had been removed, and could not confirm the allegation. In a follow-up editorial, Aftonbladet editor Jan Helin
wrote that he allowed the article "because it raises a few questions", while acknowledging that the paper had no evidence for its claims. In August 2009, Boström said he did not know whether the claims were true or not but that he wanted them investigated; he made similar remarks again at a November conference in Israel. Aftonbladet published an update noting the recent conviction of Yehuda Hiss
, Chief Pathologist at Israel's Abu Kabir Institute, and two of his colleagues for improperly taking body tissue from a dead Israeli soldier in 2001. The paper acknowledged that the event did not prove the correctness of the original allegations.
In December 2009, a 2000 interview with Hiss was released, in which he had admitted taking organs from the corpses of Israeli soldiers, Israeli citizens, Palestinians and foreign workers, without the families' permission. Israeli health officials confirmed Hiss' confession but stated that such incidents had ended in the 1990s and noted that Hiss had been removed from his post. The Palestinian press claimed the report "appeared to confirm Palestinians' allegations that Israel returned their relatives bodies with their chests sewn up, having harvested their organs".
ran an article by freelance writer Donald Boström
in its culture section. The article opened by mentioning the arrests
related to a suspected money laundering and organ trafficking operation involving rabbis, politicians, and civil servants in New Jersey
and New York
. Briefly introducing the problem of the illegal organ trade
worldwide, Boström then related things he heard and saw during his stay in the Palestinian territories in 1992 at the time of the First Intifada.
A photograph accompanying the article depicted a cadaver
with a line of stitches on the torso, identified as that of Bilal Ghanem, 19 years old when he was killed by IDF
soldiers on May 13, 1992. The Ghanem family was not interviewed for his article, but Boström described his impressions of Ghanem's burial, which he attended:
Boström also writes that unnamed UN staff members told him that "organ theft definitely occurred", but that they were "prevented from doing anything about it". He also reports the response of the IDF spokesperson as being that the allegations of organ theft were lies, and that all Palestinian victims are subjected to autopsy on a routine basis. Boström notes that according to Palestinian statistics for 1992, Bilal Ghanem was one of 133 Palestinians killed, and one of 69 who went through postmortem examination. He concludes the article with his opinion that the questions surrounding what is happening remain unanswered and should be investigated.
. On August 23, the Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, called for the Swedish government to condemn the article. An Israeli official quoted him as saying: "We're not asking the Swedish government for an apology, we're asking for their condemnation." The Israeli Finance Minister, Yuval Steinitz
, said that a continued Swedish refusal to condemn the article, might lead Israel to cancel a visit, scheduled for September, by the Swedish Foreign Minister
, Carl Bildt
. Steinitz told the Israel Army Radio
that "Whoever doesn't distance himself from this kind of blood libel might not be a welcome guest in Israel at this time. Until the Swedish government understands differently, the state of Israel, the state of the Jews, cannot ignore anti-Semitic expressions and modern recycling of medieval anti-Semitism". The Israeli Government Press Office, which accredits foreign journalists visiting the country, said it was delaying its approval for an Aftonbladet correspondent and photographer who are seeking permission to enter the Gaza Strip
by the maximum ninety days allowed by regulations.
Netanyahu said that history was replete with blood libel against Jews that have led to the murder and that "These matters cannot be taken lightly. We are not asking from the Swedes anything that we did not ask of ourselves". He reminded his ministers that in February, 2009 after a satirical skit on the Israeli Channel 10 which poked fun at the Christian
belief that Jesus
walked on water and Mary was a virgin had angered the Vatican
, then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
expressed regret and sorrow for it. Netanyahu commented: "I don't recall that Olmert's condemnation damaged press freedom in Israel". The Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman told Army Radio that "[w]hat angers us is that the Swedish government didn't condemn it but hastened to reprimand the ambassador who did find it right to condemn" the story, which Lieberman compared to historic antisemitic tracts. He accused Sweden of hypocrisy, saying that the affair has "an odor of anti-Semitism." Lieberman noted the Swedish condemnation of the Muhammed cartoons affair in 2005, as well as Sweden's shutting down of an Internet site in the country that posted the caricatures and the Swedish foreign minister letter of apology to the president of Yemen
for it. He criticized Sweden for its silence earlier in 2009, when the city of Malmö
decided not to allow spectators to a Davis Cup
match between Sweden and Israel.
The Israeli Interior Minister, Eli Yishai
, said that he would act to prevent Aftonbladet reporters from receiving work permits in Israel, and the Welfare and Social Services Minister, Isaac Herzog said that Israel should take legal steps against the paper. When asked why Israel did not investigate the article's claims, Israel's envoy to Sweden, Benny Dagan, said: "Why don't we investigate why the Mossad
and the Jews were behind the bombing of the twin towers? Why won't we investigate why Jews are spreading AIDS
in the Arab countries? Why won't we investigate why Jews killed Christian children and took their blood and organs to bake matzot on Pessah?".
On December 23, 2009, after Israeli government officials admitted that organ harvesting had taken place in the 1990s, parliamentary hearings into the issue began in Israel's Knesset
. Health officials testified that Israeli authorities harvested organs from the dead bodies of Israelis and Palestinians in the 1990s for transplant purposes, and said the practice had since ended. Ahmed Tibi, an Arab citizen of Israel and Member of the Knesset, testified that he had evidence indicating that organ theft continued, citing the case of Fadul Ordul Shaheen, a Palestinian from Gaza who died of diabetes in 2009. Tibi related that after Shaheen's body was returned to his family with bleeding from the eyes and a deep cut through the body, the family said that both the corneas and kidneys were taken from his corpse. Tibi asked that the complaint be investigated and also asked that the government probe whether organs were being harvested from Palestinian prisoners in Israel. Yaacov Litzman, the deputy health minister, responded that he would investigate the case "with all seriousness".
, writing in Ha'aretz, criticized the article and the Israeli response, saying that the article damaged "the fight against the occupation". Levy criticized Boström for not engaging in documentation, investigation and the presentation of proof. He noted that, "There were cases in which the organs of Palestinians who had been killed were harvested without permission, something the [Abu Kabir] Institute of Forensic Medicine
has done to others in Israel, for research purposes. But it's a long way from that to suspicion of trafficking in organs based only on the fact that in 1992 a dead Palestinian was found whose organs had been removed and his body sewn back up. And 17 years later a few Jews were arrested on suspicion of trafficking in human organs. That's not professional journalism, that's cheap and harmful journalism." However, he called Lieberman's response "ludicrous," and stated that it had done diplomatic damage to Israel.
The editorial line of Ha'aretz was much harsher, saying that "Donald Bostrom, a veteran Swedish journalist, wrote a despicable, utterly baseless article". It stated, however, that Avigdor Lieberman’s reaction was “no less outrageous or inciting” than Bostrom's article, commenting that "Lieberman's impassioned and demagogic reaction has damaged Israel. It cheapened the Holocaust, blew the article out of proportion and caused an international uproar, pushing Sweden
- which currently holds the presidency of the European Union
- into an unnecessary confrontation with Israel
.”
Maariv
published an article reporting that much of Boström's story came from his 2001 book “Inshallah” which it states was financed in part by the Swedish Foreign Ministry.
, said the report touched a raw nerve among Israelis – who harbor deep distrust towards Europe, believing the continent's newspapers pro-Palestinian tilt. While agreeing on the lack of merit in the article, he suggests politicians blew the controversy out of proportion for political purposes. "Lieberman expressed the feeling of many Israelis who do not understand the European narrative, and they think that any criticism comes from total misunderstanding of the Middle East, or because Europe is totally antisemitic and pro-Palestinian. Very few politicians, unfortunately, are sophisticated enough to distinguish between legitimate criticism and attacks by those with other motives,"
Former diplomat Colette Avital
said that Sweden should know that there is a difference between freedom of the press and freedom of opinion, stating that “freedom of expression is not unlimited, even in that beautiful northern country.” She also criticized Israeli official and media reactions as “blown out of all reasonable proportion.“ She criticized the Israeli Foreign Minister for voicing “ridiculous and ultimately harmful threats” that the Swedish minister's visit might be canceled, or that Swedish journalists will be refused entry into the country.
A support meeting of families of Israeli and Palestinian organ and tissue donors on Aug 26 at Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv discussed the newspaper report. Participants stressed a message that "organ donation is saving lives without any conditions" and called the report black propaganda
against Israel.
distanced themselves from the ambassador's statement and underlined that Sweden is a democracy with freedom of press, and that state representatives should not comment on individual articles in newspapers.
Mårten Schultz, senior lecturer in jurisprudence, thought that the appeals to freedom of speech were, "attempts to use the rhetorically convincing status of the freedom of expression and press legislation in order to pursue a political agenda," and exhorted politicians and journalists to bring out and read the Freedom of the Press Act before they say what the government is not entitled to do. The Office of the Councellor of Justice said that, although, the government can not criticize the decision to publish, it might go further in its criticism of the article without violating the Constitution, although that might be "inappropriate". The literal words by the Councellor of Justice, Göran Lambertz, were, according to the Swedish news agency Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå: "It is not completely clear where the limits are. There is rather a lot one may do, according to the constitution, even if it were to be regarded as politically and legally inappropriate."
On September 6, 2009, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt announced the cancellation of a trip he planned to make to Israel September 11. There was some speculation in Israel and elsewhere that this was related to the Aftonbladet controversy. However, Swedish officials denied this.
(and freedom of expression) and the ombudsman
on supervising government action, have received two written requests asking for investigation into the matter. The first asked the chancellor to judge whether the article "really would include anything that brings it beyond what the freedom of press allows - for example constitute hate speech
." The second asked him to open an errand of supervision regarding the Swedish ambassador's statements, and on a principal level explain what an ambassador officially can express on behalf of the high office and the country. Aftonbladet was acquitted of all charges.
Nils Funcke, an Swedish journalist and author focusing on the Swedish constitution, predicted that the Swedish ambassador to Israel would be criticized for her initiative. The question, he said, is how sharp the criticism will be and how the government reacts. Despite his deep concerns regarding the quality of journalism in the article, he called it "unthinkable" that the chancellor's office would take legal action regarding its contents.
, spoke to Israel Radio on 19 August 2009 and said he was worried by the allegations he reported: "It concerns me, to the extent that I want it to be investigated, that's true. But whether it's true or not — I have no idea, I have no clue." Boström told CNN
that the purpose of his article was to call for an investigation into the claims about stealing organs in the early 1990s. In an interview to the Arab media site Menassat, Boström said there was "no conclusive evidence" that organ harvesting was a systematic IDF practice, but that there is a "collection of allegations and suspicious circumstances". He was quoted as saying: "The point is that we know there is organ trafficking in Israel. And we also know that there are families claiming that their children's organs have been harvested. These two facts together point to the need for further investigation". Aftonbladet's editor, Jan Helin
, said in response to the accusations: "I'm not a Nazi, I'm not anti-Semitic", and described himself as "a responsible editor who gave the green light to an article because it raises a few questions" but noted that , however, that Aftonbladet had no evidence that Israel practices organ harvesting. Aftonbladet published a follow-up to Boström's article, which defended his report and said that the organ-harvesting allegation "should be investigated, either to stop the relentless Palestinian rumors, or, if the rumors prove to be true, stop the trade in body parts". It called Bonnier's condemnation of the original article a "disgrace".
Boström told Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot: "I am not an anti-Semite, and that's what saddens me most in this whole story. I've been a journalist for 25 years and I've always written against racism and segregation". He said that he had not meant to imply that IDF soldiers were killing Palestinians for their organs, and that "Even the Palestinians don't say that. What they said is that when the Israeli army returned the bodies, 62 of them had been autopsied and 20 Palestinian families I spoke to were certain that their sons' organs had been harvested". He acknowledged he had not personally seen evidence of organ harvesting, since the bodies that were returned to the families were never examined to determine whether organs had been taken: "As far as I know no one examined the bodies. All I'm saying is that this needs to be investigated". He also said that "Sweden supports Israel as a country and a people, and I am a part of this. There are many people, I among them, who condemn the Israeli government's policy of occupation and violation of international law. Israel needs to withdraw to its borders and evacuate the settlements. If Israel does this, support for you will reappear".
sharply criticized Aftonbladet for publishing what it called, "an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory." Henrik Bredberg in Sydsvenskan said:
A editorial in Göteborgs-Posten
:
Several political commentators pointed out that Sweden holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union
at the time of this dispute. From an Israeli point of view, they say, discrediting Sweden as antisemitic may be a way to prevent European criticism of Israel's Middle East
policies.
, criticized Israel's official response to Boström's article, stating in an interview with the Israeli army radio that the Israeli reaction and media outrage had provided the claims with much more exposure than they would have had otherwise, and blown the story out of proportion.
Anders Carlberg, the outgoing chairman of the Jewish Community in Gothenburg, Sweden, said Israel should have responded by publishing a rebuttal. "The stance of the community in general is that it's strange that this has become a government issue at all," Carlberg said. "It falls along the lines of Voltaire: I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to death your right to say it."
, Jalal Ghanem, the brother of Bilal Ghanem whose photograph accompanied Boström's article, could not confirm the allegations made by the Aftonbladet. Jalal said that Bilal was evacuated by the IDF in a helicopter after being shot. His corpse was delivered to the family a few days later, and that there were stitches on Bilal's body that ran from the chest down to the bottom of the abdomen, and that his teeth were missing. Jalal also said the only time the family saw the Swedish photographer was at Bilal's funeral when he photographed the event. In subsequent interview with Al-Jazeera he added that he though Bilal was among those who had their organs stolen.
Their mother denied having told any foreign journalist that her son's organs had been stolen, the Jerusalem Post reported in its article. Although, she does not rule out the possibility that Israel was harvesting organs of Palestinians. Another relative of the family, Ibrahim Ghanem, said the family never told the Swedish photographer that Israel had stolen organs from Bilal's body, and speculated that, "Maybe the journalist reached that conclusion on the basis of the stitches he saw on the body." He also said that the family don't have any evidence on wither the organs were removed because they never had their own autopsy conducted.
In an interview with Aftonbladet made one week after the original article, Jalal Ghanem and Bilals mother Saadega Ghanem still stood by their allegations and also claimed that Bilal was still alive when he was taken away. They also claimed that IDF soldiers tried to prevent journalists from taking pictures of the body.
reported in an article in Al-Ahram
that prior accusations of organ harvesting had been made by representatives of the Palestinian Authority, including by the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat
. Amayreh noted that no genuine investigation had ever been carried out into the Palestinian allegations of unauthorized organ harvesting, even though these allegations date back to before the 1990s.
Jonathan Cook
, a British journalist working in Israel / Palestine, noted that many Western journalists, himself included, had heard such rumors, but none before Boström had written about them. Cook wrote that, "[...] the families making the claims were not given a hearing in the late 1980s and early 1990s, during the first Intifada, when most of the reports occurred, and are still being denied the right to voice their concerns today. Israel's sensitivity to the allegation of organ theft [...] appears to trump the genuine concerns of families about possible abuse of their loved ones."
. Palestinian organizations say Israel is holding the bodies of 275 Palestinians and refusing to return them to their families. Following the conference, Mohammad Barakeh
, a Palestinian Member of Israel's Knesset, made a connection between the missing bodies and the article in Aftonbladet, saying, "Israel has maintained its reputation and alerted the entire world to the Swedish article. They claim that what was published there could not be true ... The burden of proof falls on Israel, and as long as it refuses to say what the status of the bodies is or return them, it is hiding something awful."
ian state newspaper Kayhan
quoted Arab reporter Kusar Aslam, who claims to have been stationed in Gaza and the West Bank for 22 years, as saying: "Since the early 1970s the Israelis have snatched thousands of Palestinian bodies from hospitals in the territories and transferred them to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute
", and that "My personal experience verifies the report published by (Donald) Boström". She said that the IDF kidnapped living Palestinians: "I personally witnessed Israeli soldiers and army vehicles snatching Palestinian bodies from emergency rooms. In other instances I saw soldiers follow Palestinians to cemeteries with the intent of stealing bodies before they were buried. This became so widespread that many people began to bury those murdered by IDF forces near their homes – in the yard or under a tree".
n President Bashar Assad's spokeswoman, Bouthaina Shaaban
, praised Boström's article in Asharq Al-Awsat and said Israel "should be put on trial" for its "criminal acts". She claimed there was a connection between the violation of Palestinian corpses claimed by Boström and the accused Israeli-American organ-trafficking ring whose members were indicted in New Jersey and New York in July 2009.
Yossi Levy, the Israeli Foreign Ministry's spokesman said Shaaban's praise for the article should be a "warning light" for the Swedish government which "unfortunately has still not fully and courageously condemned the article."
(D-FL) and Elton Gallegly
(R-CA), members on the United States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, wrote:.
"Given the far-reaching implications for this article, which raises the unfortunate specter of similar blood libel
s and spurious charges that have been directed at Jews throughout the centuries, it is critical that your government unequivocally repudiate and reject the heinous allegations expressed in this article,"
"It is essential that this vitriolic article not be used by anti-Semites, anti-Israel advocates, and extremists as an excuse to commit acts of violence and terrorism against the Jewish community in Sweden or internationally,? the letter stated.
Senator Ben Cardin
(D-MD), Chairman of U.S. Helsinki Commission, released a press release that urged European Foreign ministers to denounce the Aftonbladet article. He said "We at the U.S. Helsinki Commission are dedicated to upholding human rights, particularly freedom of the press. But with freedom of the press comes responsibility. And when major press outlets fail to meet their responsibility, and instead raise the specter of racism or anti-Semitism, then public officials are duty bound to speak out and condemn such blatant falsehoods. I commend Sweden’s Ambassador to Israel for fulfilling this duty, and I call on the Swedish Government, which currently holds the European Union Presidency, to support Italian and other EU efforts to denounce this harmful reporting."
Co-Chairman of US Helsinki Commission US Senator Alcee Hastings
(D-FL) said: "This incendiary article draws on age old anti-Semitic imagery, and attempts to place it in a modern context of worrisome hostility in Europe towards both Jews and Israel. Government leaders must demand the press act with journalistic integrity and report responsibly, particularly when it can incite the violent potential of anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred."
Abraham H. Foxman, the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League
of B'nai B'rith said the ADL lodged a complaint with the Swedish embassy in Washington. "Such unfounded rumors -- of Jews ‘poisoning the wells’ and carrying out acts of ritual murder—have been in the playbook of anti-Semites through the centuries, and continue to be believed in parts of the Arab world and elsewhere to this day. What could Mr. Boström and the editors who ushered this article into print have been thinking?” The letter stated: “This article represents nothing less than a base recycling of the medieval blood libel
in which Jews were charged with killing Christian children for their alleged ritual use,"
expressed regret that Israel had gone after the Swedish government for a condemnation. "Regardless of the article’s content and although we understand the public outcry it has triggered in Israel, the Israeli authorities must refrain from asking their Swedish counterparts to intervene," they said, "Aftonbladet alone is responsible for the articles it publishes. The Swedish government is not responsible."
, Franco Frattini, said that he had recently met with Bildt, and that the two of them agreed that at a meeting of European Union
foreign ministers later the following week, they would work to pass a resolution making it clear that the EU, under the Swedish presidency, strongly condemns anti-Semitism and will take action against any manifestation of it in Europe. Frattini said he was intending to demand that the meeting's summary statement explicitly condemn the article.
Later that day, the Swedish news agency TT quoted Carl Bildt
as denying the Frattini's conclusion, and reported that the head of communications at the Swedish Foreign Ministry, Cecilia Julin, denied that Bildt and Frattini even had discussed the dispute, or a possible resolution at the Council of Ministers. Julin said: "From the Swedish side we have no plans to handle this question through the informal foreign ministers' meeting in Stockholm". According to her, Bildt suggested that Frattini's comment must have arisen through an "Italian misunderstanding". Reinfeldt also insisted that the Swedish government could not take a stand because of Sweden's freedom of the press. At a press conference in Stockholm
, he said: "We cannot be asked by anyone to contravene the Swedish constitution, and this is something we will also not do within the European Union".
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office did not comment on Frattini's initiative. However, Palmor said: "Every initiative against anti-Semitism is welcome. But if the declaration is general and does not specifically relate to the article in Aftonbladet, it will not resolve anything". He added that "We did not ask for an apology, or for measures against the newspaper or the journalist. All we asked of Sweden and the Swedes is that they reject and decry the content of the report. And our position has not changed".
, an anthropology professor at the University of California at Berkeley and founder of a newsletter called "Organs Watch", released the tape of an interview she had conducted in 2000 with Yehuda Hiss
, then director of Israel's L. Greenberg Institute of Forensic Medicine (known colloquially as the "Abu Kabir" Forensic Institute). In the interview, which appeared on Israel's Channel 2
television, Hiss stated that he had harvested organs in the 1990s. "We started to harvest corneas ... Whatever was done was highly informal. No permission was asked from the family." Hiss was fired from his position as director of the forensic institute in 2004 for "repeated body-part scandals”. Hiss was later reinstated and still retains the director's position. Israeli officials acknowledged that incidents like that had taken place, but stated that the vast majority of cases involved Israeli citizens, that no such incidents had occurred for a long time, and that Hiss had been removed from his position.
Scheper-Hughes stated that Palestinians were not the only ones affected "by a long shot", but that she felt the interview must be made public now because "the symbolism, you know, of taking skin of the population considered to be the enemy, (is) something, just in terms of its symbolic weight, that has to be reconsidered." In an interview with Al Jazeera, Scheper-Hughes said the organ harvesting took place with the "sanction and approval" of the military establishment and that the "body parts were used by hospitals for transplant purposes - cornea transplants. They were sent to public hospitals [for use on citizens].. and the skin went to a special skin bank, founded by the military, for their uses", such as for burns victims.
Several news agencies reported that the Aftonbladet article had claimed that Israel killed Palestinians to harvest their organs, although the author, the culture editor for Aftonbladet, and Nancy Scheper-Hughes denied that it had made this claim. Nothing in the Hiss interview substantiated the accusation of deliberate killings.
Aftonbladet
Aftonbladet is a Swedish tabloid founded by Lars Johan Hierta in 1830 during the modernization of Sweden. It is one of the larger daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. Aftonbladet is owned by the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and Norwegian media group Schibsted, and its editorial page...
alleging that Israeli troops harvested organs from Palestinians that died in their custody. The article sparked a fierce debate in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and abroad, and created a rift between the Swedish and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i governments. Israeli officials denounced the report at the time, labeling it "anti-Semitic," but did not comment on the specific allegations.
The article was written by Swedish freelance photojournalist Donald Boström
Donald Boström
Carl Donald Boström is a Swedish journalist, photographer and writer. He is best known for his writings and photography relating to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict...
, and was titled "Våra söner plundras på sina organ" ("Our sons are plundered of their organs"). It presented allegations that in the late 1980s and early 1990s, many young men from the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
and Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
had been seized by Israeli forces and their bodies returned to their families with missing organs.
The Israeli government and several US congresspersons condemned the article as baseless and incendiary, while noting the history of antisemitism and blood libels against Jews, and asked the Swedish government to denounce it. Stockholm refused, citing freedom of the press
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...
and the country's constitution
Constitution of Sweden
The Swedish Constitution consists of four fundamental laws :* The 1810 Act of Succession * The 1949 Freedom of the Press Act * The 1974 Instrument of Government * The 1991 Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression...
. Swedish ambassador to Israel Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier condemned the article as "shocking and appalling", stating that freedom of the press carries responsibility, but the Swedish government distanced itself from her remarks. Lena Posner-Körösi, a leader of the Jewish community in Stockholm and the president of the Official Council of Jewish Communities in Sweden explained that "freedom of expression is sacred" to Swedes, as to Israelis and that no one in Sweden "understand how Israel dares to interfere." She also criticized Aftonbladet stating in the letter to editor Jan Helin, that "Jewish Central Council in Sweden insist that the description resembles classic anti-Semitism - Jews who kidnap children to slaughter them and steal their blood. We look with amazement at how a Swedish newspaper again permits its pages to such hate speech and expect that you, as editor and publisher to reject anti-Semitic statements." Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
made a stillborn attempt to defuse the diplomatic situation through a European resolution condemning antisemitism. The Palestinian Authority announced it would establish a commission to investigate the article's claims.
The Swedish and Israeli media were highly critical of the article, and all cultural editors of other major Swedish newspapers argued that the article, based on old hearsay and rumors, should never have been published. However, the Swedish Newspaper Publishers' Association and Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...
supported Sweden's refusal to condemn it. Meanwhile, family members of Bilal Ghanem, the Palestinian at the center of the article's claims, stated that they had never told Boström that Ghanem's organs had been removed, and could not confirm the allegation. In a follow-up editorial, Aftonbladet editor Jan Helin
Jan Helin
Jan Gustav Helin, born Jan Gustav Karlsson 12 January 1967 in Nynäshamn, is a Swedish journalist who since January 2008 is the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Aftonbladet, replacing Anders Gerdin. Helin previously worked as reporter, propagandist and editor at Aftonbladet, which he first joined...
wrote that he allowed the article "because it raises a few questions", while acknowledging that the paper had no evidence for its claims. In August 2009, Boström said he did not know whether the claims were true or not but that he wanted them investigated; he made similar remarks again at a November conference in Israel. Aftonbladet published an update noting the recent conviction of Yehuda Hiss
Yehuda Hiss
Yehuda Hiss is the chief pathologist at the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine and has held this position since 1988...
, Chief Pathologist at Israel's Abu Kabir Institute, and two of his colleagues for improperly taking body tissue from a dead Israeli soldier in 2001. The paper acknowledged that the event did not prove the correctness of the original allegations.
In December 2009, a 2000 interview with Hiss was released, in which he had admitted taking organs from the corpses of Israeli soldiers, Israeli citizens, Palestinians and foreign workers, without the families' permission. Israeli health officials confirmed Hiss' confession but stated that such incidents had ended in the 1990s and noted that Hiss had been removed from his post. The Palestinian press claimed the report "appeared to confirm Palestinians' allegations that Israel returned their relatives bodies with their chests sewn up, having harvested their organs".
Aftonbladet article by Donald Boström
In August 2009 AftonbladetAftonbladet
Aftonbladet is a Swedish tabloid founded by Lars Johan Hierta in 1830 during the modernization of Sweden. It is one of the larger daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. Aftonbladet is owned by the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and Norwegian media group Schibsted, and its editorial page...
ran an article by freelance writer Donald Boström
Donald Boström
Carl Donald Boström is a Swedish journalist, photographer and writer. He is best known for his writings and photography relating to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict...
in its culture section. The article opened by mentioning the arrests
Operation Bid Rig
Operation Bid Rig is an ongoing, long-term investigation into political corruption in New Jersey conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, and the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey since 2002...
related to a suspected money laundering and organ trafficking operation involving rabbis, politicians, and civil servants in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Briefly introducing the problem of the illegal organ trade
Organ trade
Organ trade is the trade involving human organs for transplantation. There is a worldwide shortage of organs available for transplantation, possibly a result of regulations forbidding their trafficking.-Legal organ trade:...
worldwide, Boström then related things he heard and saw during his stay in the Palestinian territories in 1992 at the time of the First Intifada.
A photograph accompanying the article depicted a cadaver
Cadaver
A cadaver is a dead human body.Cadaver may also refer to:* Cadaver tomb, tomb featuring an effigy in the form of a decomposing body* Cadaver , a video game* cadaver A command-line WebDAV client for Unix....
with a line of stitches on the torso, identified as that of Bilal Ghanem, 19 years old when he was killed by IDF
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
soldiers on May 13, 1992. The Ghanem family was not interviewed for his article, but Boström described his impressions of Ghanem's burial, which he attended:
The next paragraph of the article quotes other Palestinian families, and reads as follows:
Together with the sharp noises from the shovels we could hear occasional laughter from the soldiers who, as they waited to go home, exchanged some jokes. As Bilal was put in the grave his chest was uncovered and suddenly it became clear to the few people present just what kind of abuse he had been exposed to. Bilal was not by far the first to be buried with a slit from his abdomen up to his chin and speculations on the intent started.
The affected Palestinian families in the West Bank and Gaza were sure of what happened to their sons. Our sons are used as involuntary organ donors, relatives of Khaled from Nablus told me, as did the mother of Raed from Jenin and the uncles of Machmod and Nafes from Gaza, who had all disappeared for a number of days only to return at night, dead and autopsied.
- Why would they otherwise keep the bodies for up to five days before they let us bury them? What happened to the bodies during that time? Why are they performing an autopsy when the cause of death is obvious, and in all cases against our will? Why are the bodies returned at night? And why with a military escort? And why is the area closed off during the funeral? And why is the electricity interrupted? There were lots of upset questions from Nafes uncle.
Boström also writes that unnamed UN staff members told him that "organ theft definitely occurred", but that they were "prevented from doing anything about it". He also reports the response of the IDF spokesperson as being that the allegations of organ theft were lies, and that all Palestinian victims are subjected to autopsy on a routine basis. Boström notes that according to Palestinian statistics for 1992, Bilal Ghanem was one of 133 Palestinians killed, and one of 69 who went through postmortem examination. He concludes the article with his opinion that the questions surrounding what is happening remain unanswered and should be investigated.
Government
The claim in the article sparked an angry reaction by Israeli Foreign Ministry official Yigal Palmor who associated the article with the medieval blood libelBlood libel
Blood libel is a false accusation or claim that religious minorities, usually Jews, murder children to use their blood in certain aspects of their religious rituals and holidays...
. On August 23, the Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, called for the Swedish government to condemn the article. An Israeli official quoted him as saying: "We're not asking the Swedish government for an apology, we're asking for their condemnation." The Israeli Finance Minister, Yuval Steinitz
Yuval Steinitz
Yuval Steinitz , is an Israeli academic and politician who has been a Knesset member for Likud since 1999. He is now the Finance Minister of Israel.-Biography:...
, said that a continued Swedish refusal to condemn the article, might lead Israel to cancel a visit, scheduled for September, by the Swedish Foreign Minister
Minister for Foreign Affairs (Sweden)
The Minister for Foreign Affairs is the foreign minister of Sweden and the head of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.The office was instituted in 1809 as a result of the constitutional Instrument of Government promulgated in the same year. Until 1876 the office was called Prime Minister for Foreign...
, Carl Bildt
Carl Bildt
, Honorary KCMG is a Swedish politician, diplomat and nobleman. Formerly Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994 and leader of the liberal conservative Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999, Bildt has served as Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs since 6 October 2006...
. Steinitz told the Israel Army Radio
Israel Army Radio
Army Radio or Galei Tzahal known in Israel by its acronym Galatz , is a nationwide Israeli radio network operated by the Israel Defense Forces....
that "Whoever doesn't distance himself from this kind of blood libel might not be a welcome guest in Israel at this time. Until the Swedish government understands differently, the state of Israel, the state of the Jews, cannot ignore anti-Semitic expressions and modern recycling of medieval anti-Semitism". The Israeli Government Press Office, which accredits foreign journalists visiting the country, said it was delaying its approval for an Aftonbladet correspondent and photographer who are seeking permission to enter the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
by the maximum ninety days allowed by regulations.
Netanyahu said that history was replete with blood libel against Jews that have led to the murder and that "These matters cannot be taken lightly. We are not asking from the Swedes anything that we did not ask of ourselves". He reminded his ministers that in February, 2009 after a satirical skit on the Israeli Channel 10 which poked fun at the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
belief that Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
walked on water and Mary was a virgin had angered the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
, then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He served as Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, as a Cabinet Minister from 1988 to 1992 and from 2003 to 2006, and as Mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003....
expressed regret and sorrow for it. Netanyahu commented: "I don't recall that Olmert's condemnation damaged press freedom in Israel". The Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman told Army Radio that "[w]hat angers us is that the Swedish government didn't condemn it but hastened to reprimand the ambassador who did find it right to condemn" the story, which Lieberman compared to historic antisemitic tracts. He accused Sweden of hypocrisy, saying that the affair has "an odor of anti-Semitism." Lieberman noted the Swedish condemnation of the Muhammed cartoons affair in 2005, as well as Sweden's shutting down of an Internet site in the country that posted the caricatures and the Swedish foreign minister letter of apology to the president of Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
for it. He criticized Sweden for its silence earlier in 2009, when the city of Malmö
Malmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
decided not to allow spectators to a Davis Cup
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...
match between Sweden and Israel.
The Israeli Interior Minister, Eli Yishai
Eli Yishai
Eliyahu "Eli" Yishai is an Israeli politician and head of the Shas party. He currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Shas, and as both one of four Deputy Prime Ministers and Minister of Internal Affairs.- Political life :...
, said that he would act to prevent Aftonbladet reporters from receiving work permits in Israel, and the Welfare and Social Services Minister, Isaac Herzog said that Israel should take legal steps against the paper. When asked why Israel did not investigate the article's claims, Israel's envoy to Sweden, Benny Dagan, said: "Why don't we investigate why the Mossad
Mossad
The Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
and the Jews were behind the bombing of the twin towers? Why won't we investigate why Jews are spreading AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
in the Arab countries? Why won't we investigate why Jews killed Christian children and took their blood and organs to bake matzot on Pessah?".
On December 23, 2009, after Israeli government officials admitted that organ harvesting had taken place in the 1990s, parliamentary hearings into the issue began in Israel's Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
. Health officials testified that Israeli authorities harvested organs from the dead bodies of Israelis and Palestinians in the 1990s for transplant purposes, and said the practice had since ended. Ahmed Tibi, an Arab citizen of Israel and Member of the Knesset, testified that he had evidence indicating that organ theft continued, citing the case of Fadul Ordul Shaheen, a Palestinian from Gaza who died of diabetes in 2009. Tibi related that after Shaheen's body was returned to his family with bleeding from the eyes and a deep cut through the body, the family said that both the corneas and kidneys were taken from his corpse. Tibi asked that the complaint be investigated and also asked that the government probe whether organs were being harvested from Palestinian prisoners in Israel. Yaacov Litzman, the deputy health minister, responded that he would investigate the case "with all seriousness".
Media
Gideon LevyGideon Levy
Gideon Levy is an Israeli journalist.Levy writes opinion pieces and a weekly column for the newspaper Haaretz that often focus on the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories...
, writing in Ha'aretz, criticized the article and the Israeli response, saying that the article damaged "the fight against the occupation". Levy criticized Boström for not engaging in documentation, investigation and the presentation of proof. He noted that, "There were cases in which the organs of Palestinians who had been killed were harvested without permission, something the [Abu Kabir] Institute of Forensic Medicine
Abu Kabir Forensic Institute
L. Greenberg National Institute of Forensic Medicine also known as Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, is an Israeli forensic research laboratory located in the Abu Kabir neighborhood of Tel Aviv, Israel.-History:...
has done to others in Israel, for research purposes. But it's a long way from that to suspicion of trafficking in organs based only on the fact that in 1992 a dead Palestinian was found whose organs had been removed and his body sewn back up. And 17 years later a few Jews were arrested on suspicion of trafficking in human organs. That's not professional journalism, that's cheap and harmful journalism." However, he called Lieberman's response "ludicrous," and stated that it had done diplomatic damage to Israel.
The editorial line of Ha'aretz was much harsher, saying that "Donald Bostrom, a veteran Swedish journalist, wrote a despicable, utterly baseless article". It stated, however, that Avigdor Lieberman’s reaction was “no less outrageous or inciting” than Bostrom's article, commenting that "Lieberman's impassioned and demagogic reaction has damaged Israel. It cheapened the Holocaust, blew the article out of proportion and caused an international uproar, pushing Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
- which currently holds the presidency of the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
- into an unnecessary confrontation with Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.”
Maariv
Maariv
Maariv is a Hebrew language daily newspaper published in Israel. It is second in sales after Yedioth Ahronoth and third in readership after Yedioth Ahronoth and Israel HaYom. In a TGI survey comparing the last half of 2009 with the same period in 2008, Maariv saw its market share fall slightly...
published an article reporting that much of Boström's story came from his 2001 book “Inshallah” which it states was financed in part by the Swedish Foreign Ministry.
Civil society
Yoram Peri head of the Chaim Herzog Institute for Media, Politics and Society at Tel Aviv UniversityTel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...
, said the report touched a raw nerve among Israelis – who harbor deep distrust towards Europe, believing the continent's newspapers pro-Palestinian tilt. While agreeing on the lack of merit in the article, he suggests politicians blew the controversy out of proportion for political purposes. "Lieberman expressed the feeling of many Israelis who do not understand the European narrative, and they think that any criticism comes from total misunderstanding of the Middle East, or because Europe is totally antisemitic and pro-Palestinian. Very few politicians, unfortunately, are sophisticated enough to distinguish between legitimate criticism and attacks by those with other motives,"
Former diplomat Colette Avital
Colette Avital
Colette Avital is an Israeli diplomat and politician. She served as a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party and One Israel between 1999 and 2009.-Biography:...
said that Sweden should know that there is a difference between freedom of the press and freedom of opinion, stating that “freedom of expression is not unlimited, even in that beautiful northern country.” She also criticized Israeli official and media reactions as “blown out of all reasonable proportion.“ She criticized the Israeli Foreign Minister for voicing “ridiculous and ultimately harmful threats” that the Swedish minister's visit might be canceled, or that Swedish journalists will be refused entry into the country.
A support meeting of families of Israeli and Palestinian organ and tissue donors on Aug 26 at Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv discussed the newspaper report. Participants stressed a message that "organ donation is saving lives without any conditions" and called the report black propaganda
Black propaganda
Black propaganda is false information and material that purports to be from a source on one side of a conflict, but is actually from the opposing side. It is typically used to vilify, embarrass or misrepresent the enemy...
against Israel.
Government
Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier, the Swedish ambassador to Israel, strongly condemned the article, stating: "The article in the Swedish newspaper is shocking and terrifying for us Swedish, as it influences the Israeli citizens... The embassy can not emphasize more its disgust." The Swedish foreign ministry and the Swedish foreign minister Carl BildtCarl Bildt
, Honorary KCMG is a Swedish politician, diplomat and nobleman. Formerly Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994 and leader of the liberal conservative Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999, Bildt has served as Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs since 6 October 2006...
distanced themselves from the ambassador's statement and underlined that Sweden is a democracy with freedom of press, and that state representatives should not comment on individual articles in newspapers.
Mårten Schultz, senior lecturer in jurisprudence, thought that the appeals to freedom of speech were, "attempts to use the rhetorically convincing status of the freedom of expression and press legislation in order to pursue a political agenda," and exhorted politicians and journalists to bring out and read the Freedom of the Press Act before they say what the government is not entitled to do. The Office of the Councellor of Justice said that, although, the government can not criticize the decision to publish, it might go further in its criticism of the article without violating the Constitution, although that might be "inappropriate". The literal words by the Councellor of Justice, Göran Lambertz, were, according to the Swedish news agency Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå: "It is not completely clear where the limits are. There is rather a lot one may do, according to the constitution, even if it were to be regarded as politically and legally inappropriate."
On September 6, 2009, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt announced the cancellation of a trip he planned to make to Israel September 11. There was some speculation in Israel and elsewhere that this was related to the Aftonbladet controversy. However, Swedish officials denied this.
Legal complaints
The Swedish Chancellor of Justice, the sole attorney in enforcing violations to the conventions regarding freedom of the pressFreedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...
(and freedom of expression) and the ombudsman
Ombudsman
An ombudsman is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some internal or external constituency while representing not only but mostly the broad scope of constituent interests...
on supervising government action, have received two written requests asking for investigation into the matter. The first asked the chancellor to judge whether the article "really would include anything that brings it beyond what the freedom of press allows - for example constitute hate speech
Hate speech
Hate speech is, outside the law, any communication that disparages a person or a group on the basis of some characteristic such as race, color, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, or other characteristic....
." The second asked him to open an errand of supervision regarding the Swedish ambassador's statements, and on a principal level explain what an ambassador officially can express on behalf of the high office and the country. Aftonbladet was acquitted of all charges.
Nils Funcke, an Swedish journalist and author focusing on the Swedish constitution, predicted that the Swedish ambassador to Israel would be criticized for her initiative. The question, he said, is how sharp the criticism will be and how the government reacts. Despite his deep concerns regarding the quality of journalism in the article, he called it "unthinkable" that the chancellor's office would take legal action regarding its contents.
Donald Boström and Aftonbladet Reaction
The author of the article, Donald BoströmDonald Boström
Carl Donald Boström is a Swedish journalist, photographer and writer. He is best known for his writings and photography relating to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict...
, spoke to Israel Radio on 19 August 2009 and said he was worried by the allegations he reported: "It concerns me, to the extent that I want it to be investigated, that's true. But whether it's true or not — I have no idea, I have no clue." Boström told CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
that the purpose of his article was to call for an investigation into the claims about stealing organs in the early 1990s. In an interview to the Arab media site Menassat, Boström said there was "no conclusive evidence" that organ harvesting was a systematic IDF practice, but that there is a "collection of allegations and suspicious circumstances". He was quoted as saying: "The point is that we know there is organ trafficking in Israel. And we also know that there are families claiming that their children's organs have been harvested. These two facts together point to the need for further investigation". Aftonbladet's editor, Jan Helin
Jan Helin
Jan Gustav Helin, born Jan Gustav Karlsson 12 January 1967 in Nynäshamn, is a Swedish journalist who since January 2008 is the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Aftonbladet, replacing Anders Gerdin. Helin previously worked as reporter, propagandist and editor at Aftonbladet, which he first joined...
, said in response to the accusations: "I'm not a Nazi, I'm not anti-Semitic", and described himself as "a responsible editor who gave the green light to an article because it raises a few questions" but noted that , however, that Aftonbladet had no evidence that Israel practices organ harvesting. Aftonbladet published a follow-up to Boström's article, which defended his report and said that the organ-harvesting allegation "should be investigated, either to stop the relentless Palestinian rumors, or, if the rumors prove to be true, stop the trade in body parts". It called Bonnier's condemnation of the original article a "disgrace".
Boström told Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot: "I am not an anti-Semite, and that's what saddens me most in this whole story. I've been a journalist for 25 years and I've always written against racism and segregation". He said that he had not meant to imply that IDF soldiers were killing Palestinians for their organs, and that "Even the Palestinians don't say that. What they said is that when the Israeli army returned the bodies, 62 of them had been autopsied and 20 Palestinian families I spoke to were certain that their sons' organs had been harvested". He acknowledged he had not personally seen evidence of organ harvesting, since the bodies that were returned to the families were never examined to determine whether organs had been taken: "As far as I know no one examined the bodies. All I'm saying is that this needs to be investigated". He also said that "Sweden supports Israel as a country and a people, and I am a part of this. There are many people, I among them, who condemn the Israeli government's policy of occupation and violation of international law. Israel needs to withdraw to its borders and evacuate the settlements. If Israel does this, support for you will reappear".
Other media
The Swedish rival newspaper SydsvenskanSydsvenskan
-External links:*...
sharply criticized Aftonbladet for publishing what it called, "an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory." Henrik Bredberg in Sydsvenskan said:
"Donald Boström publicised a variant of an anti-Semitic classic, the Jew who abducts children and steals their blood... The regrettable aspects just seem to grow and grow... the Israeli government rages and speaks of an article which 'shames Swedish democracy and the entire Swedish press'. Hardly. Freedom of expression and freedom of the press are part of democracy... Dare to believe in freedom of the press and open debate. Even when individual editors make stupid and tasteless decisions."
A editorial in Göteborgs-Posten
Göteborgs-Posten
Göteborgs-Posten is a major daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Gothenburg, with containing coverage of local, regional, national and international issues. It is chiefly distributed in western Götaland. It has the second largest national circulation, after Dagens Nyheter and before...
:
"The Foreign Ministry has made it clear that Swedish freedom of the press applies. Good. Aftonbladet should not be given the unwarranted glory of martyrdom... Publication seems to represent an obvious lack of judgment. Unfortunately the lack of judgment did not stop there. The Swedish ambassador in Tel Aviv... attacked the article and thereby created the impression that having views about or intervening in individual publications should be a task for the government and its representatives."
Several political commentators pointed out that Sweden holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union
Presidency of the Council of the European Union
The Presidency of the Council of the European Union is the responsibility for the functioning of the Council of the European Union that rotates between the member states of the European Union every six months. The presidency is not a single president but rather the task is undertaken by a national...
at the time of this dispute. From an Israeli point of view, they say, discrediting Sweden as antisemitic may be a way to prevent European criticism of Israel's Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
policies.
Civil society
Lena Posner-Körösi, a leader of Sweden's Jewish communityHistory of the Jews in Sweden
The History of the Jews in Sweden probably began with arrivals from the Hanseatic League in medieval times, but there are no records. In Elizabethan times it was common for European royalty to have Jewish doctors at court, and there is a record of a Jewish doctor who served Gustav Vasa in the 16th...
, criticized Israel's official response to Boström's article, stating in an interview with the Israeli army radio that the Israeli reaction and media outrage had provided the claims with much more exposure than they would have had otherwise, and blown the story out of proportion.
Anders Carlberg, the outgoing chairman of the Jewish Community in Gothenburg, Sweden, said Israel should have responded by publishing a rebuttal. "The stance of the community in general is that it's strange that this has become a government issue at all," Carlberg said. "It falls along the lines of Voltaire: I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to death your right to say it."
Palestinian Authority
On Sept. 3, 2009, the Palestinian Authority (PA) announced the formation of an inter-ministerial panel to investigate allegations that the Israeli military “stole organs” from Palestinian detainees. The secretary general of the PA Council of Ministers, Dr Hassan Abu Libdeh, said that, if true, the alleged events would constitute violations of human rights. The PA's ministers of Health, Interior, and Foreign Affairs, and senior officials from each ministry would, he said, sit on the commission.Ghanem family and relatives
According to The Jerusalem PostThe Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post is an Israeli daily English-language broadsheet newspaper, founded on December 1, 1932 by Gershon Agron as The Palestine Post. The daily readership numbers do not approach those of the major Hebrew newspapers....
, Jalal Ghanem, the brother of Bilal Ghanem whose photograph accompanied Boström's article, could not confirm the allegations made by the Aftonbladet. Jalal said that Bilal was evacuated by the IDF in a helicopter after being shot. His corpse was delivered to the family a few days later, and that there were stitches on Bilal's body that ran from the chest down to the bottom of the abdomen, and that his teeth were missing. Jalal also said the only time the family saw the Swedish photographer was at Bilal's funeral when he photographed the event. In subsequent interview with Al-Jazeera he added that he though Bilal was among those who had their organs stolen.
Their mother denied having told any foreign journalist that her son's organs had been stolen, the Jerusalem Post reported in its article. Although, she does not rule out the possibility that Israel was harvesting organs of Palestinians. Another relative of the family, Ibrahim Ghanem, said the family never told the Swedish photographer that Israel had stolen organs from Bilal's body, and speculated that, "Maybe the journalist reached that conclusion on the basis of the stitches he saw on the body." He also said that the family don't have any evidence on wither the organs were removed because they never had their own autopsy conducted.
In an interview with Aftonbladet made one week after the original article, Jalal Ghanem and Bilals mother Saadega Ghanem still stood by their allegations and also claimed that Bilal was still alive when he was taken away. They also claimed that IDF soldiers tried to prevent journalists from taking pictures of the body.
Media
Palestinian journalist Khalid AmayrehKhalid Amayreh
Khalid Amayreh is a Palestinian journalist based in Dura, near Hebron. Amayreh has experienced years of restrictions on his activities and travel, including imprisonment.-Life and work:...
reported in an article in Al-Ahram
Al-Ahram
Al-Ahram , founded in 1875, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second oldest after al-Waqa'i`al-Masriya . It is majority owned by the Egyptian government....
that prior accusations of organ harvesting had been made by representatives of the Palestinian Authority, including by the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
. Amayreh noted that no genuine investigation had ever been carried out into the Palestinian allegations of unauthorized organ harvesting, even though these allegations date back to before the 1990s.
Jonathan Cook
Jonathan Cook
Jonathan Cook is a British writer and a freelance journalist based in Nazareth, Israel, who writes about the Middle East, and more specifically, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.-Background:...
, a British journalist working in Israel / Palestine, noted that many Western journalists, himself included, had heard such rumors, but none before Boström had written about them. Cook wrote that, "[...] the families making the claims were not given a hearing in the late 1980s and early 1990s, during the first Intifada, when most of the reports occurred, and are still being denied the right to voice their concerns today. Israel's sensitivity to the allegation of organ theft [...] appears to trump the genuine concerns of families about possible abuse of their loved ones."
Civil society
In September 2009, hundreds of Palestinians attended a conference marking the "national day for the return of the bodies of martyrs" in NablusNablus
Nablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the...
. Palestinian organizations say Israel is holding the bodies of 275 Palestinians and refusing to return them to their families. Following the conference, Mohammad Barakeh
Mohammad Barakeh
Mohammad Barakeh is an Israeli Arab politician and member of the Knesset for Hadash, of which he is the General Secretary.-Biography:Born in Shefa-'Amr, Barakeh studied mathematics at Tel Aviv University. He first became politically involved whilst at university in the late 1970s and early 1980s...
, a Palestinian Member of Israel's Knesset, made a connection between the missing bodies and the article in Aftonbladet, saying, "Israel has maintained its reputation and alerted the entire world to the Swedish article. They claim that what was published there could not be true ... The burden of proof falls on Israel, and as long as it refuses to say what the status of the bodies is or return them, it is hiding something awful."
Iran
The IranIran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian state newspaper Kayhan
Kayhan
Kayhan is an influential newspaper in Iran. Directly under the supervision of the Office of the Supreme Leader, it is regarded to be "the most conservative Iranian newspaper."...
quoted Arab reporter Kusar Aslam, who claims to have been stationed in Gaza and the West Bank for 22 years, as saying: "Since the early 1970s the Israelis have snatched thousands of Palestinian bodies from hospitals in the territories and transferred them to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute
Abu Kabir Forensic Institute
L. Greenberg National Institute of Forensic Medicine also known as Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, is an Israeli forensic research laboratory located in the Abu Kabir neighborhood of Tel Aviv, Israel.-History:...
", and that "My personal experience verifies the report published by (Donald) Boström". She said that the IDF kidnapped living Palestinians: "I personally witnessed Israeli soldiers and army vehicles snatching Palestinian bodies from emergency rooms. In other instances I saw soldiers follow Palestinians to cemeteries with the intent of stealing bodies before they were buried. This became so widespread that many people began to bury those murdered by IDF forces near their homes – in the yard or under a tree".
Syria
SyriaSyria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
n President Bashar Assad's spokeswoman, Bouthaina Shaaban
Bouthaina Shaaban
Bouthaina Shaaban is a Syrian politician and is currently the political and media adviser to the President of Syria. Shaaban served as the first Minister of Expatriates for the Syrian Arab Republic, between 2003 and 2008, and has been described as the Syrian "regime's face to the outside...
, praised Boström's article in Asharq Al-Awsat and said Israel "should be put on trial" for its "criminal acts". She claimed there was a connection between the violation of Palestinian corpses claimed by Boström and the accused Israeli-American organ-trafficking ring whose members were indicted in New Jersey and New York in July 2009.
Yossi Levy, the Israeli Foreign Ministry's spokesman said Shaaban's praise for the article should be a "warning light" for the Swedish government which "unfortunately has still not fully and courageously condemned the article."
United States
In a letter to the Swedish prime minister, Congressmen Robert WexlerRobert Wexler
Robert Wexler is the president of the Washington-based S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace.Wexler was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing , from 1997 until his resignation on January 3, 2010.-Early life:Wexler was born in Queens, New York to Sonny and...
(D-FL) and Elton Gallegly
Elton Gallegly
Elton William Gallegly is the U.S. Representative for , and previously the 23rd and 21st, serving in Congress since 1993. He is a member of the Republican Party.-Early life, education, and pre-congressional career:...
(R-CA), members on the United States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, wrote:.
"Given the far-reaching implications for this article, which raises the unfortunate specter of similar blood libel
Blood libel
Blood libel is a false accusation or claim that religious minorities, usually Jews, murder children to use their blood in certain aspects of their religious rituals and holidays...
s and spurious charges that have been directed at Jews throughout the centuries, it is critical that your government unequivocally repudiate and reject the heinous allegations expressed in this article,"
"It is essential that this vitriolic article not be used by anti-Semites, anti-Israel advocates, and extremists as an excuse to commit acts of violence and terrorism against the Jewish community in Sweden or internationally,? the letter stated.
Senator Ben Cardin
Ben Cardin
Benjamin Louis "Ben" Cardin is the junior United States Senator from Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party. Before his election to the Senate, Cardin was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing from 1987 to 2007.Cardin was elected to succeed Paul Sarbanes in...
(D-MD), Chairman of U.S. Helsinki Commission, released a press release that urged European Foreign ministers to denounce the Aftonbladet article. He said "We at the U.S. Helsinki Commission are dedicated to upholding human rights, particularly freedom of the press. But with freedom of the press comes responsibility. And when major press outlets fail to meet their responsibility, and instead raise the specter of racism or anti-Semitism, then public officials are duty bound to speak out and condemn such blatant falsehoods. I commend Sweden’s Ambassador to Israel for fulfilling this duty, and I call on the Swedish Government, which currently holds the European Union Presidency, to support Italian and other EU efforts to denounce this harmful reporting."
Co-Chairman of US Helsinki Commission US Senator Alcee Hastings
Alcee Hastings
Alcee Lamar Hastings is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. He is a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life, education and career:...
(D-FL) said: "This incendiary article draws on age old anti-Semitic imagery, and attempts to place it in a modern context of worrisome hostility in Europe towards both Jews and Israel. Government leaders must demand the press act with journalistic integrity and report responsibly, particularly when it can incite the violent potential of anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred."
Abraham H. Foxman, the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
of B'nai B'rith said the ADL lodged a complaint with the Swedish embassy in Washington. "Such unfounded rumors -- of Jews ‘poisoning the wells’ and carrying out acts of ritual murder—have been in the playbook of anti-Semites through the centuries, and continue to be believed in parts of the Arab world and elsewhere to this day. What could Mr. Boström and the editors who ushered this article into print have been thinking?” The letter stated: “This article represents nothing less than a base recycling of the medieval blood libel
Blood libel
Blood libel is a false accusation or claim that religious minorities, usually Jews, murder children to use their blood in certain aspects of their religious rituals and holidays...
in which Jews were charged with killing Christian children for their alleged ritual use,"
Reporters Without Borders
The Reporters Without BordersReporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...
expressed regret that Israel had gone after the Swedish government for a condemnation. "Regardless of the article’s content and although we understand the public outcry it has triggered in Israel, the Israeli authorities must refrain from asking their Swedish counterparts to intervene," they said, "Aftonbladet alone is responsible for the articles it publishes. The Swedish government is not responsible."
Italy
In an interview with Haa'rez on August 31, the Italian Foreign MinisterItalian Minister of Foreign Affairs
As in most countries, in Italy the Minister of Foreign Affairs, which is the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is one of the most important ministerial positions...
, Franco Frattini, said that he had recently met with Bildt, and that the two of them agreed that at a meeting of European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
foreign ministers later the following week, they would work to pass a resolution making it clear that the EU, under the Swedish presidency, strongly condemns anti-Semitism and will take action against any manifestation of it in Europe. Frattini said he was intending to demand that the meeting's summary statement explicitly condemn the article.
Later that day, the Swedish news agency TT quoted Carl Bildt
Carl Bildt
, Honorary KCMG is a Swedish politician, diplomat and nobleman. Formerly Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994 and leader of the liberal conservative Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999, Bildt has served as Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs since 6 October 2006...
as denying the Frattini's conclusion, and reported that the head of communications at the Swedish Foreign Ministry, Cecilia Julin, denied that Bildt and Frattini even had discussed the dispute, or a possible resolution at the Council of Ministers. Julin said: "From the Swedish side we have no plans to handle this question through the informal foreign ministers' meeting in Stockholm". According to her, Bildt suggested that Frattini's comment must have arisen through an "Italian misunderstanding". Reinfeldt also insisted that the Swedish government could not take a stand because of Sweden's freedom of the press. At a press conference in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, he said: "We cannot be asked by anyone to contravene the Swedish constitution, and this is something we will also not do within the European Union".
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office did not comment on Frattini's initiative. However, Palmor said: "Every initiative against anti-Semitism is welcome. But if the declaration is general and does not specifically relate to the article in Aftonbladet, it will not resolve anything". He added that "We did not ask for an apology, or for measures against the newspaper or the journalist. All we asked of Sweden and the Swedes is that they reject and decry the content of the report. And our position has not changed".
Organ harvest revelation of Yehuda Hiss interview
In December 2009, Nancy Scheper-HughesNancy Scheper-Hughes
Nancy Scheper-Hughes is a professor of Anthropology and director of the program in Medical Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley. She is known for her writing on the anthropology of the body, hunger, illness, medicine, psychiatry, madness, social suffering, violence and genocide...
, an anthropology professor at the University of California at Berkeley and founder of a newsletter called "Organs Watch", released the tape of an interview she had conducted in 2000 with Yehuda Hiss
Yehuda Hiss
Yehuda Hiss is the chief pathologist at the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine and has held this position since 1988...
, then director of Israel's L. Greenberg Institute of Forensic Medicine (known colloquially as the "Abu Kabir" Forensic Institute). In the interview, which appeared on Israel's Channel 2
Channel 2 (Israel)
Channel 2 is an Israeli commercial television channel.- History :In 1990, after 13 years of deliberations, the Knesset passed a law that paved the way for the establishment of commercial television in Israel. The goal was to enhance pluralism and create competition. Channel 2 began broadcasting on...
television, Hiss stated that he had harvested organs in the 1990s. "We started to harvest corneas ... Whatever was done was highly informal. No permission was asked from the family." Hiss was fired from his position as director of the forensic institute in 2004 for "repeated body-part scandals”. Hiss was later reinstated and still retains the director's position. Israeli officials acknowledged that incidents like that had taken place, but stated that the vast majority of cases involved Israeli citizens, that no such incidents had occurred for a long time, and that Hiss had been removed from his position.
Scheper-Hughes stated that Palestinians were not the only ones affected "by a long shot", but that she felt the interview must be made public now because "the symbolism, you know, of taking skin of the population considered to be the enemy, (is) something, just in terms of its symbolic weight, that has to be reconsidered." In an interview with Al Jazeera, Scheper-Hughes said the organ harvesting took place with the "sanction and approval" of the military establishment and that the "body parts were used by hospitals for transplant purposes - cornea transplants. They were sent to public hospitals [for use on citizens].. and the skin went to a special skin bank, founded by the military, for their uses", such as for burns victims.
Several news agencies reported that the Aftonbladet article had claimed that Israel killed Palestinians to harvest their organs, although the author, the culture editor for Aftonbladet, and Nancy Scheper-Hughes denied that it had made this claim. Nothing in the Hiss interview substantiated the accusation of deliberate killings.
See also
- Snow White and The Madness of TruthSnow White and The Madness of TruthSnow White and The Madness of Truth was an item of installation art by Swedish, Israeli-born composer and musician Dror Feiler, and his Swedish wife, artist Gunilla Sköld-Feiler...
- Zahra's Blue EyesZahra's Blue EyesZahra's Blue Eyes, also titled For You, Palestine, is an Iranian television series which premiered in 2004 on Sahar 1. It was created by 'Ali Derakhshi, a former official of the Iranian Education Ministry...
- Israel–Sweden relations
- Organ donation in IsraelOrgan donation in IsraelOrgan transplantation in Israel is regulated by two laws passed in 2008. The first law defines "brain death" as an indication of death for all legal purposes, including organ donation. A second law provides financial and other benefits to living donors and outlaws organ trafficking...
- Organ harvestingOrgan harvestingOrgan harvesting refers to the removal, preservation and use of human organs and tissue from the bodies of the recently deceased to be used in surgical transplants on the living...
/ Organ theftOrgan theftOrgan harvesting refers to the removal, preservation and use of human organs and tissue from the bodies of the recently deceased to be used in surgical transplants on the living... - New antisemitism
- ShylockShylockShylock is a fictional character in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.-In the play:In The Merchant of Venice, Shylock is a Jewish moneylender who lends money to his Christian rival, Antonio, setting the security at a pound of Antonio's flesh...
- Blood libelBlood libelBlood libel is a false accusation or claim that religious minorities, usually Jews, murder children to use their blood in certain aspects of their religious rituals and holidays...
- Race cardRace cardPlaying the race card is an idiomatic phrase that refers to exploitation of either racist or anti-racist attitudes to gain a personal advantage, typically by falsely accusing others of racism against oneself.-Usage:...