Israel Matzav

Aftonbladet does it again

The Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet has published an entire section of its Sunday edition that is devoted to defending its blood libel that the IDF murdered 'Palestinians' are harvested their organs for resale abroad.

Here's an article by their editor, Jan Helin, and here is the Google translation:

There were weeks when the world went crazy

There were weeks when the world went crazy because of a cultural item to Aftonbladet.

We are and will be a reliable supplier of hot air. This is a good evening.

But it lost sense and wit and the subsequent diplomatic crisis between Sweden and Israel, the result this time was not our intention.

It was set a number of questions about illegal organ trafficking.

But the issue was irrelevant,, a hateful opinion, as evidence of organ theft were missing.

It was in itself correct that evidence of illegal handling of bodies missing from the article.

It was Levy Ishak Rosenbaums recognition from a currently ongoing investigation in the U.S. about how he acted illegally by the agency from Israel. Not clear yet how he got hold of them.

There was the writer Donald Boströms own picture on a wanted Palestinian 19-year-old boy shot dead by Israeli military for 17 years ago and returned to the family uppskuren and sewn together from chin to waist. His family accuses israel of for stealing bodies from the boy's body after they killed him.

None of these in itself undisputed facts proving body theft. But it was, in my opinion, right to publish a culture article a number of issues.

Then the doors burst dam.

With the spurn of the centuries-old horror story of abuse against Jews went commentators attacked Aftonbladet.

The relatively moderate argued that these issues may not be made.

The tokigaste cared not about issues but was instead completely occupied by declaring that Aftonbladet is an anti-Semitic newspaper.

Ambassador Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier, the Aftonbladet article on the Swedish State.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman compared the Carl Bildt defense of American freedom of the press and freedom of expression with the way Sweden acted yielding during World War II.

MEP Gunnar Hökmark (M) wrote in all seriousness that I am a Nazi or, in any case a Nazi publisher and Aftonbladet in my direction now serving the dark forces.

The vulgar propaganda these three lend themselves to deeply sad. The bottoms are not in anything other than a self good SHOWMANSHIP which borrows its strength from a horrific history. Shamelessly.

I am not a Nazi. I am not anti-Semite. I am a publisher who allowed the publication of an article for the culture that it makes a number of relevant issues.

Therefore, the best gaphalsar to the Israeli minister, the Swedish EU-parliamentarians and ambassadors from both countries, calms us down and we return to the issue.

What happened in the village Imattén in the West Bank for 17 years ago when a 19-year-old boy shot to death?

Our reporter and photographer Oisin Cantwell Urban Andersson have saved up the Palestinian mother and brother of the boy whose uppskurna and sewn together body, we published a picture on Monday. You meet them on the next page.

Why was the boy uppskuren and sewn together? If there was an autopsy - why was carried out despite the fact that the cause of death was obvious?

In reply today, the Israeli Defense Forces. Our reporter Jill Sjölund has interviewed the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman. You meet him at the following suggestions.

This return to the issues is our point on this issue. This week.

In other words, Aftonbladet published half-baked nonsense with no proof and now is crying because they manage to anger everyone here enough that they have created a major diplomatic crisis. Morons.

The rest of the articles are an attempt to backtrack and fill in evidence that (if it exists, which it does not) should have been filled in before the article last week was ever published. But as you will see, their new articles provide no more evidence than the previous ones.

In an interview with Aftonbladet, foreign minister Carl Bildt refuses to apologize and refuses to call on Aftonbladet to do so. He also refuses to comment on the removal of the apology issued by Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier, Sweden's ambassador to Israel, from the ministry's web site. If this continues next week when he is scheduled to be in Israel, he should be barred from entering the country. Nearly all Israelis would agree with that decision.

The paper also interviewed Israel's foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor. This is the Google translation from the Swedish original.

'We dissect - that is routine'

Aftonbladet's article on Bilal Achmad Ghanem uppskurna and sewn together body has launched a bitter diplomatic battle between Sweden and Israel.

Yigal Palmer, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry has recently worked continuously with the crisis.

Exclusive to Aftonbladet he now responds to questions about why Bilal's body was treated as it did and why Israel responded so strongly to the article.

Why did the soldiers away Bilal Achmad Ghanem body and gave it back until several days later, uppskuren and sewn together?

- I know nothing about the particular circumstances of this case, it is difficult to investigate this a long time afterwards. But if there has been a shooting and there is a civilian deaths want the army, when possible, determine the circumstances surrounding the death. It is the normal procedure that it takes your body to do an autopsy.

But Bilal Achmad Ghanem was including in the chest. Is not the obvious cause of death?

- We do not know, we were not there. The circumstances surrounding the shot unloading went to was perhaps more complicated than it is now claimed. And even if you are sure that he shot to death, you must investigate exactly how it happened. Who shot and killed him? He was shot by Israelis, or perhaps by a Palestinian, it was an accident or was he when he attacked the soldiers? He shot from the front or the rear? He was subjected to a dirty game? One must see from what angle he was, what was the type of ball he was with and so on to determine exactly what has happened, so that there shall be no questions and not be arguments about who shot and why .

You say it is routine to dissect deaths, but according to figures from Donald Boströms Article autopsy only half the Palestinians killed the same year as Bilal. Why?

- Of course, there have been many incidents during the Intifada, where it has not been possible to perform an autopsy, because it could not evacuate the body due to the terrain where it has happened has not been under our control. We can not send an ambulance or helicopter to evacuate the bodies of the vulnerable to attacks or snipers.

- There is a well-known cases where it was not possible to do an autopsy and it led to problems. Mohammed Al'Doura was a little boy who died during the shooting. The Palestinians claimed that he was killed by Israeli soldiers, while we thought that he probably killed by someone else. He became a symbol of the Palestinian intifada. But because the body was in a territory that was not under Israeli control, we could never investigate what really happened. [Especially if there was no body. CiJ]

Will you investigate the case of Achmad Bilal Ghanem to assure you that everything went right, given the family's suspicions and the discussion that led to the case?

- No. To open a closed case, good legal reasons and there is not the case here. As I understood it was the body sewn together and no one opened him up to check if something was missing, so the family says that the body was stolen is no more than hypothetical. There is no evidence that something wrong has happened and then we can legally do not open up an old case.

- Furthermore, the body buried in a territory controlled by the Palestinian authorities, so even if we would like, I do not think we can conduct an investigation. But the family can dig him up and examine him if they want.

Can we not at least look at the autopsy report?

- To look at the reports from the autopsy is only possible if the family requires it official. In this case, they may turn to the Palestinian Ministry of Health or the Palestinian Foreign Ministry. This will start a legal process and it is up to the court to determine whether it is legitimate or not.

The article says several families that their sons body has been stolen. Is this type of accusations new for you?

- No, we have heard this before, but it has never been any proof of the allegations. I assume that people who claim these things think that what they say is true, but they have not opened up the cells and examined if there are no bodies, so what they say is something they think - not what they know.

So you have never examined any of the allegations that soldiers have stolen body?

- No, it has never been any investigation because it has never been any serious cases where there has been reason to investigate.

Why was the Israeli reaction to the article so strong?

- It was bad enough that the article author gave weight to the allegations was not built on concrete evidence or testimony. Then he expanded it by linking the case with New Jersey affair, although the case has nothing to do with the affair to make. The article generalize and insinuate that an entire ethnic, religious group is evil. It accuses the Jews in general. It is racist and therefore the reaction was so strong.

They also interview the family of a 'Palestinian' - Bilal Achmed Ghaneim who was allegedly shot by IDF troops in 1992. There is no evidence that anything happened except that the bereaved mother insists that the body was 'removed.'

And in yet another article, they complain that Israel will not let their reporters enter Gaza (why don't they just go in through Egypt if they are so eager?). Here's a Google translation of that article.

Aftonbladet's team in Israel thwarted

Now, Israel to further attacks on American freedom of the press.

Aftonbladet's reporter and photographer are prevented from being able to work in the country.

- It is a provocation by the Israeli authorities, "said chief editor Jan Helin.

Tone continues to be screwed up against Sweden after the article on suspected organ published in Aftonbladet's culture pages on Monday.

Danny Seaman, head of the Israeli government Pressbyrå, make clear that Aftonbladet's reporter and photographer, who is currently in the country, resisted actively. He has instructed his staff to take such a long time as possible to test applications for press accreditation, according to the newspaper Jerusalem Post.

- We have 90 days for us to look at the inquiry and we will do it as thoroughly as possible. In the case of this magazine, we will look at the most insignificant bureaucratic detail, "says Seaman to the newspaper Haaretz.

"Do not professionally"

Even Interior Minister Eli Yishai said, according to the newspaper Jerusalem Post, that he will act to prevent Aftonbladet reporters from getting work in the country.

- It is a provocation by the Israeli authorities. It seems like emotionally driven by the Israeli ministers back, they do not professionally, "said Aftonbladet's chief Jan Helin.

- Basically, I have a firm belief that Israel is a democratic state. They will grant us these press accreditation.

"It's not violated any laws"

Aftonbladet's Oisin Cantwell and Urban Andersson was already yesterday in the village Imattén in the West Bank where they met the family who suspect that their boy body was stolen in 1992. The report was published in today's Aftonbladet.

- But we have not violated any laws or rules, as far as we understand. We are open passed various checkpoints in the West Bank, where our team has shown their passports. We have also done a job on Palestinian territory and I can not believe that a democratic state of Israel try to control how the press operates in a territory where they do not have control, "says Helin.

No one said they violated any laws (although they may have violated our libel laws - that's still under investigation). But the Government Press Office has a prerogative to grant a permit to foreign media to work here. They're not required to grant it. Why should they grant a permit to a newspaper that publishes blood libels about us? In the meantime, the government has said that they will take the full amount of time allotted to determine the request, which is completely within the rights of the Government Press Office. After all, we have to make sure the reporters' organs are available for transplant. Heh.

Finally, there is this article, which basically reports what was reported in the Israeli media today.

The Israeli government should not back down on this. And if we haven't gotten an apology from the Swedish government and a condemnation of Aftonbladet before Bildt is due to come here, he should be declared persona non grata and barred from coming. And our ambassador ought to be recalled now.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:28 PM