Abu Kabir Forensic Institute
Encyclopedia
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
.
at the University of Tel Aviv. Administratively it reports to Assaf HaRofeh Hospital.
The Abu Kabir Institute is the only facility in Israel
and the occupied territories
authorized to conduct autopsies in cases of unnatural death. The lab at Abu Kabir conducts forensic examination in cases of rape, homicide, suicide and suspicious death. It also identifies victims of terror attacks.
, director of Abu Kabir from 1988 to 2004, admitted, as part of a plea bargain
, to the unauthorized removal of organs, bone and tissue from 125 bodies in the 1990s. Israel claimed that such activity stopped a decade ago.
In 2009, Abu Kabir was mentioned in a controversial article in Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet
by Donald Boström
. Boström accused the institute of being part of a human organ trafficking ring in which Israel Defense Forces
(IDF) soldiers abducted Palestinians to "harvest" their organs.
Boström later admitted having no evidence. "I have a personal opinion," Boström told Israel Radio. "It concerns me to the extent that I want it to be investigated. But whether it's true or not - I have no idea, I have no clue." In an interview with an Israeli newspaper, Boström said his allegations were based on hearsay: "What I experienced during this day is many people from Israel who called me haven't read the article. So they think I'm accusing the IDF of stealing organs. That's not what I'm doing. I just recorded the Palestinian families saying that."
The Israeli Ministry of Health later acknowledged that "skin, corneas, heart valves and bones" had been removed during autopsies of Israelis, including IDF soldiers, Palestinians and foreign workers in the 1990s. The ministry says that for the past decade, procedures carried out at Abu Kabir have conformed with ethics and Jewish law, and all organ removal is done with permission.
Nancy Scheper-Hughes
, a professor of anthropology at the University of California-Berkeley who founded Organs Watch, an organization that monitors traffic in human organs, said she decided to publicize an interview with Hiss in the wake of the Aftonbladet affair. She described the involvement of the IDF as a "widely-known secret in Israel."However, Scheper-Hughes made it clear she does not believe Israel murdered Palestinians for organs.
The Attorney General of Israel
dropped criminal charges against Hiss, and he continues to work there as a chief pathologist.
Abu Kabir
Abu Kabir was a satellite village of Jaffa founded by Egyptians following Ibrahim Pasha's 1832 defeat of Turkish forces in Ottoman era Palestine. After Israel's establishment in 1948, the area became part of Tel Aviv...
neighborhood of Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
History
Established in 1954, the Greenberg National Institute of Forensic Medicine is a department of the Israeli Health Ministry and affiliated with the Sackler Faculty of MedicineSackler Faculty of Medicine
Sackler Faculty of Medicine is a medical school which is part of Tel Aviv University in Tel Aviv, Israel.It was named after Arthur, Mortimer and Raymond Sackler, U.S. physicians who made substantial donations to the school...
at the University of Tel Aviv. Administratively it reports to Assaf HaRofeh Hospital.
The Abu Kabir Institute is the only facility in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and the occupied territories
Israeli-occupied territories
The Israeli-occupied territories are the territories which have been designated as occupied territory by the United Nations and other international organizations, governments and others to refer to the territory seized by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967 from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria...
authorized to conduct autopsies in cases of unnatural death. The lab at Abu Kabir conducts forensic examination in cases of rape, homicide, suicide and suspicious death. It also identifies victims of terror attacks.
Organ removal allegations
In 2005, chief pathologist Yehuda HissYehuda Hiss
Yehuda Hiss is the chief pathologist at the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine and has held this position since 1988...
, director of Abu Kabir from 1988 to 2004, admitted, as part of a plea bargain
Plea bargain
A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...
, to the unauthorized removal of organs, bone and tissue from 125 bodies in the 1990s. Israel claimed that such activity stopped a decade ago.
In 2009, Abu Kabir was mentioned in a controversial article in Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet
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...
by 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...
. Boström accused the institute of being part of a human organ trafficking ring in which Israel Defense Forces
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...
(IDF) soldiers abducted Palestinians to "harvest" their organs.
Boström later admitted having no evidence. "I have a personal opinion," Boström told Israel Radio. "It concerns me to the extent that I want it to be investigated. But whether it's true or not - I have no idea, I have no clue." In an interview with an Israeli newspaper, Boström said his allegations were based on hearsay: "What I experienced during this day is many people from Israel who called me haven't read the article. So they think I'm accusing the IDF of stealing organs. That's not what I'm doing. I just recorded the Palestinian families saying that."
The Israeli Ministry of Health later acknowledged that "skin, corneas, heart valves and bones" had been removed during autopsies of Israelis, including IDF soldiers, Palestinians and foreign workers in the 1990s. The ministry says that for the past decade, procedures carried out at Abu Kabir have conformed with ethics and Jewish law, and all organ removal is done with permission.
Nancy Scheper-Hughes
Nancy 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...
, a professor of anthropology at the University of California-Berkeley who founded Organs Watch, an organization that monitors traffic in human organs, said she decided to publicize an interview with Hiss in the wake of the Aftonbladet affair. She described the involvement of the IDF as a "widely-known secret in Israel."However, Scheper-Hughes made it clear she does not believe Israel murdered Palestinians for organs.
The Attorney General of Israel
Attorney General of Israel
The Attorney General of Israel stands at the head of the legal system of the executive branch and the head of the public legal establishment, in charge of protecting the rule of law and as such entrusted with protecting the public interest from possible harm by government authorities...
dropped criminal charges against Hiss, and he continues to work there as a chief pathologist.