We heard the fury and the Israeli demand that Sweden retract its incendiary statement and condemn the article which appeared in Sweden's Aftonbladet, a widely circulated daily. The photo shown here appeared in the same newspaper, with others, and was taken by Donald Boldstrom. Al-Ahram, Egypt's most respected newspaper discusses not only the photos taken, but the article by Mr. Boldstrom. The article's title is 'Ours sons are plundered of their organs', where Mr. Bodlstrom describes the instance he viewed the body of a nineteen year old male that has been cut open and sewn back together.
This 'scandal' comes on the heels of the arrest of several Israeli and American rabbis in New Jersey on charges of organ trafficking. Though Boldstrom did not give an opinion on the matter, he did indicate that the accusation merits an international investigation.
The translation of Mr. Boldstrom's article from the Swedish can be found here.
Despite Israeli demands and threats of boycotting Swedish goods, it appears that Sweden is not about to make any retractions. Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt was reported to have said: 'No one can demand that the Swedish government violate its own constitution. Freedom of speech is an indispensable part of Swedish society'. Accusations of antisemitism yielded equal results.
Al Ahram quoted Saira Soufran (Pakistani-American freelance social worker. Married and living in Amman-Jordan. Currently working as an assistant editor with the Jerusalem Forum) as saying that organ harvesting had been documented as far back as the 1990's. He alleges that when bodies of dead Palestinians were returned to their families, it was discovered that body parts that were missing had been replaced by 'cotton wool, garden hoses, and broom sticks'.
It is unsettling that if such a practice existed for so long, that the press had chosen to remain silent. And by the same token, if it had been silent for almost 2 decades, why is the story erupting now?
Israel's Organ Harvesting - Middle East online
Is Israel harvesting organs of Palestinian youths? - La Voz de Aztlan
Comments
please see the article on this topic: "Israeli Organ Harvesting: The New 'Blood Libel'? by Alison Weir. It is on the If Americans Knew website.
The Missing Link in Palestinian Organ Theft
The autopsy surgeon Aftonbladet forgot
by Jonathan Cook, September 05, 2009
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The hyperventilating by Israel’s leaders over a story published in a Swedish newspaper last month suggesting that the Israeli army assisted in organ theft from Palestinians has distracted attention from the disturbing allegations made by Palestinian families that were the basis of the article’s central claim.
The families’ fears that relatives, killed by the Israeli army, had body parts removed during unauthorized autopsies performed in Israel have been overshadowed by accusations of a "blood libel" directed against the reporter, Donald Bostrom, and the Aftonbladet newspaper, as well as the Swedish government and people.
I have no idea whether the story is true. Like most journalists working in Israel and Palestine, I have heard such rumors before. Until Bostrom wrote his piece, no W
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