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.
Time for Israel to recall its ambassador to Sweden
The more I read of Swedish reaction to the Aftonbladet controversy, the more I believe that Israel must take decisive action in this case - at a minimum it must recall its ambassador for 'consultations.' This isn't just one article in one newspaper. It's about a self-righteous culture that reeks of anti-Semitism. In a previous post I recounted several anti-Israel/anti-Semitic incidents in Sweden over the last few years. The entire way in which this controversy has been handled shows that the Swedes are self-righteous anti-Semites from the top down, and it is time for Israel to start reacting more strongly to them, especially because they currently hold the Presidency of the European Union.
Let's start at the top: Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt hid behind the fig leaf of 'free speech' on Saturday and said that his government would not apologize for the article at top left, which appeared in Monday's Aftonbladet tabloid:
"No one can demand that the Swedish government violate its own constitution. Freedom of speech is an indispensable part of Swedish society," Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt was quoted by the Swedish news agency TT as saying.
In response, Spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry Yossi Levy said Saturday: "In our opinion freedom of speech is not reserved only for the media, but is also the right of the Swedish government.
"We expect Stockholm to express, clearly and without evasion its position on this anti-Semitic article. We feel that 'freedom of speech' is being used as a fig leaf by the Swedish government," he added.
"The Israeli government itself greatly values freedom of speech," said Levy, "and no less so than the Swedish government, which seems to be using this term as a convenient measure to evade issuing a strong statement saying: 'Anti-Semitism is disgraceful and should be denounced not only when it is expressed in the capitals of Third World countries, but also when it is voiced in the heart of Sweden'."
Keep expecting them to do it guys - it's not going to happen. It certainly won't happen so long as we welcome Sweden's slimy foreign minister Carl Bildt to Israel next week.
Israel doesn’t plan on canceling a scheduled visit by Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt, despite his refusal to apologize for a controversial newspaper article alleging that Israeli soldiers harvested organs from dead Palestinians.
But Israel said it still expects Bildt to clearly distance himself from the article, published earlier this week in the Aftonbladet newspaper.
“The ball is in the court of the Swedish foreign ministry. We expect them to act or answer. No answer is also an answer, of course, and if there is no answer we’re going to be very disappointed and it will cast a shadow over the visit and our political relations,” said Yigal Palmor, a spokesperson for Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, to the TT news agency on Saturday.
Why isn't the visit being canceled? Why aren't there mass demonstrations scheduled for Bildt's visit? Israel is apparently considering discussing only the article with Bildt while he's here. If so, it will be a short visit. Look what this moron says:
Bildt spoke carefully on Saturday about Israel’s criticism in his first public comments about the incident other than statements published on his blog.
“I’m not passing judgment on it at all,” he said as he made his way to Vaxholm to listen to attend a speech by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.
He also commented on how the matter may affect relations between the two countries.
“I don’t think it will affect bilateral relations. We have an interesting and good dialogue when it comes to the peace process in the Middle East. But what I am concerned about is that the Israeli public has gotten the idea that there are anti-Semitic views which are tolerated in Sweden. That idea is wrong according to my view,” Bildt told TT.
“It’s important to say that anti-Semitism isn’t tolerated in Sweden.”
What a farce! Anti-Semitism isn't tolerated in Sweden? Let's say it loud and clear: Sweden is an anti-Semitic country! Is that loud enough to get our ambassador summoned to the Swedish foreign ministry again?
What is Aftonbladet? Well, it's not the National Enquirer. Barry Rubin explains:
We are not talking about a Saudi newspaper or a Hamas radio station but a Swedish newspaper. We are not talking about a neo-Nazi rag, but a daily tabloid closely tied to the Swedish Social Democratic Party. And we are not just talking about an obscure item but an article that received top billing.
On Aug. 18, the newspaper Aftonbladet published an article by a man named Donald Bostrom. The editor responsible is named Asa Linderborg. She is the newspaper's cultural affairs editor. This was no random decision for her. When asked once: "What do you wish for most in life right now?" She answered: "What a simple question. What I want is a free Palestine."
And what did this article say? That Israel's army deliberately murders Palestinian civilians so that it can cut out and sell their organs to sick people needing transplants. The author is a left-wing activist for Palestinian causes, though the newspaper calls him a journalist.
Jonathan Tobin provides translations from the blog of Aftonbladet editor in chief Jan Helin.
Aftonbladet’s editor, reveals that he is intent on doubling down on a campaign of libel while all the while attempting to pose as a victim. Helin claims: “I’m not a racist. I’m not an anti-Semite. Aftonbladet is not an anti-Semitic newspaper. On the contrary, we openly stand against xenophobia.”
But he describes the understandable reaction of Israelis and Jews around the world to his digging up what is one of the old standbys of anti-Semites—a medieval-style blood libel that depicts Jews as blood-sucking vampires who feast on the bodies of non-Jews—as “a wave of hatred.”
Curiously, though he specifies that “Aftonbladet takes no position on the veracity of the facts,” he writes as if the notion that Jews kill Palestinians and steal their organs is not a slander but a debatable proposition and that the ball is in Israel’s court to prove that its soldiers are not guilty of such a preposterous crime.
But just as brazen as his defense of the article is his attack on his country’s ambassador to Israel for having the good sense to try and distance her nation from Aftonbladet’s anti-Semitism. Calling her statement—that she was shocked and appalled at the article—an attack on freedom of the press, Helin writes: “Have you woken up in Iran? No, it is Sweden’s Ambassador Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier in Tel Aviv, who attacks the Swedish freedom of press and freedom of expression.”
The fact that the anti-Israeli and anti-American writer Helle Klein, for many years the political editor of Aftonbladet, at her blog also speaks warmly of "free speech" is such an extreme case of hypocrisy that it simply cannot go unanswered. Free speech does not exist in Sweden. Although some countries such as Britain and Belgium are trying hard to claim the title, I would personally rate Sweden as being probably the most totalitarian and politically repressive country in the entire Western world as of 2009, and Aftonbladet has made substantial contributions to this repressive climate. Sweden has huge problems caused by mass immigration, and Muslim immigration in particular, but speaking honestly about this is absolutely taboo among the mainstream media. According to journalist Karen Jespersen, Helle Klein has stated that "If the debate is [about] that there are problems caused by refugees and immigrants, we don't want it." Opinion polls have revealed that two out of three Swedes doubt whether Islam can be combined with Swedish society, yet not one party represented in parliament has been genuinely critical of the immigration policies, and there is virtually no real debate about Multiculturalism and Islam.
The Swedes aren't full of Raoul Wallenberg's anymore and the Israeli government cannot pretend that nothing happened here. It's time for strong diplomatic action against Sweden. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman likened the Swedish government's silence in this case to its silence in the face of the Holocaust during World War II (which is what prompted the Swedish foreign ministry to call in Israel's ambassador). The comparison was apt. Will we be silent too?
Two leaders of Sweden's Jewish community - Lena Posner of Stockholm and Anders Carlberg of Gothenburg - have taken the Israeli government to task for blowing the Aftonbladet blood libel out of proportion.
According to Lena Posner, head of the Jewish community in Stockholm and president of the Official Council of Jewish Communities in Sweden, "Israel caused all this mess."
Posner told Ynet, "The article was published here on Monday, but no one paid any attention to it. It wasn't a news report and was buried in the back pages of a tabloid. The writer is known to many of us as anti-Israel, and so it the entire paper. This is why no one took it seriously – until Israel got involved."
This is what I refer to as the galus (exile) mentality. The galus mentality believes that if we ignore the vile hatred around us, maybe it will go away. Many Israelis are incapable of ignoring the hatred around them - perhaps because they have too much pride because they do not (and in many cases have not) lived in the galus. Who is right? I believe it's up to the victim of an attack to decide how to respond.
On Thursday, when the affair appeared to be fading, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman released a statement comparing the Swedish government's silence over the article to its conduct during the Holocaust.
"He and others have become experts on Sweden, claiming that this is an anti-Semitic country," said Posner. "With all due respect, they are not experts and are completely wrong. They may have an interest, but we are the ones living here with this situation. It's not so bad. The atmosphere is indeed anti-Israel, but many countries criticize Israel's activity. Bringing up the Holocaust every time is definitely unhelpful to us."
Keep pretending Ms. Posner. How far is Malmo from Stockholm? 320 miles or 514 kilometers. Not so far. Have you been to Malmo? This took place outside a Davis Cup tennis match in Malmo in March.
Let's go to the videotape.
Yes, I know Ms. Posner. That was Israel's fault. If they had just forfeited the match instead of showing up to play it, there never would have been any riots. That's what a good galus Jew is supposed to do, isn't it? Cower before the goyim (non-Jews) by not showing up.
How about this video? Does this look familiar? It's the central square in Malmo. It's a pro-Israel demonstration that took place in February during Operation Cast Lead, and you're about to see some of your nice Swedish neighbors shoot a rocket into the middle of the demonstration.
Let's go to the videotape.
Yes, I know, that was Israel's fault too. We should have kept absorbing those 'Palestinian' rockets that were making life unbearable for our kids so as not to upset your poor Swedish neighbors. Of course. What? What you say? Those aren't 'real Swedes' - they're Muslims - as opposed to the nice people from Aftonbladet who are 'real Swedes.' Funny, the Aftonbladet Swedes don't make that distinction. There's not a single political party in your country that's willing to discuss the issue of Muslim immigration. If you're still in Sweden in 2o years, you will probably be living in a Muslim country. Will they be 'real Swedes' then?
Still think your country isn't anti-Semitic? Go here and read a short list I've compiled of anti-Semitic incidents in Sweden in the last five years. Yes, there have probably been more, but I have other countries to follow too.
Due to Israel's handling of the affair, Posner added, the focus of the discourse has shifted away from criticizing Israel's conduct in Gaza to defending freedom of expression.
"What is happening now is that the issue is no longer the organs, but whether the prime minister the prime minister and Lieberman are even entitled to intervene in the freedom of expression. In Sweden, like in Israel, freedom of expression is sacred. Everyone in Sweden cannot understand how Israel dares to interfere."
Actually, I think it's a good thing that we're now discussing 'freedom of expression' rather than a blood libel. Otherwise, your neighbors might still be trying to convince themselves that the blood libel is true. The blood libel is so false and despicable that it's not worthy of discussion.
And your Swedish neighbors have some very distorted ideas of what 'freedom of expression' means. 'Freedom of expression' means that you can say whatever you want but you had better be ready to back it up with facts or face the consequences. Yes, there are consequences to making false statements in public. There are laws in nearly every civilized country that deal with libel and slander. What Aftonbladet published last week is both of the above.
By the way, here in Israel, no one would argue that 'freedom of expression' means that the government cannot criticize slanders in the media. Just yesterday, our Education Minister, Gidon Sa'ar, slammed Ben Gurion University professor Neve Gordon for an article Gordon wrote in the Los Angeles Times last Friday. The article called for an international boycott of Israel. Is Gordon free to write whatever he wants? Absolutely. Is Sa'ar entitled to criticize him for it? Just as absolutely. Don't buy into the lie that Carl Bildt would be impinging on 'freedom of expression' if he were to criticize Aftonbladet. That's the galus mentality again - if we're quiet about it, it will go away. It doesn't work.
Anders Carlberg, head of Gothenburg's Jewish community, agrees that the Israeli demand that the Swedish government intervene in the publication was unhelpful.
"News stands are now full of articles on freedom of expression following this affair," he said. "In most countries of the Western world, issues dealing with freedom of expression are above politics, and therefore, I don't think Israel's demand for a condemnation will be answered. I understand Jerusalem's response, but the matter has definitely been blown out of proportions."
No, Mr. Carlberg. Issues dealing with 'freedom of expression' are always political. That's why America's founding fathers included them as the very first item in the Bill of Rights. We here in Israel don't have a constitution or a Bill of Rights, and because of that freedom of expression is sometimes unfairly limited here - particularly in the political arena. But freedom of expression is definitely not above politics and I'm happy that our politicians are taking the lead in lambasting the blood libel that was published by Aftonbladet.
Will we get a condemnation from the Swedish government? I doubt it. But I continue to believe that we should not discuss any other issue with them until we do. If Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt thinks he's going to come here and talk about the 'Palestinians' next week without issuing a condemnation of Aftonbladet, he's smoking some pretty strong dope.
Finally, it's not for you to decide whether we've blown the matter out of proportion. You weren't the ones attacked - we were.
Reporter's book alleging Israeli harvesting of 'Palestinians' organs financed by Swedish foreign ministry
Israel's cabinet reacted with fury on Sunday to the saga of the blood libel perpetrated by the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet, hinting that Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt (pictured), who is scheduled to visit Israel next week, may be told to stay home if an apology is not forthcoming.
Ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting expressed outrage at the article and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz went so far as to say that those who refuse to condemn such libel "may not be welcome in the state of Israel."
While Steinitz did not specify his meaning, his comments were possibly a reference to Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, who is set to visit Israel in early September but has rejected calls to condemn the story.
"We have a crisis until the Swedish government responds differently," Steinitz said.
The Israeli government is also holding up press credentials for a reporter and photographer for Aftonbladet.
In related news, two visiting journalists for the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet which ran the story arrived at the Government Press Office (GPO) in Jerusalem Sunday to request press accreditation, Israel Radio reported. GPO Director Danny Seaman told the radio station that he had instructed his employees to take as much time as is needed and allowed by regulations - up to three months - to review the request.
Seaman said that the two journalists, a reporter and a cameraman, had responded angrily and even "rudely" to the news that the review process may take time. Seaman asked his employees to explain to the two that the process may take some time due to checks that must be made, including - he said jokingly - blood tests to check the reporters' blood types and eligibility for organ transplant.
I had a Swedish commenter suggest that maybe Israel should investigate the allegations contained in the Aftonbladet blood libel. Here's how Israel's ambassador to Sweden, Benny Dagan, reacted to that suggestion.
"You know what, I have a suggestion for you," Dagan retorted. "Why won't you 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 to bake Matzot on Pessah]?"
And finally this little tidbit. A report in the Hebrew daily Ma'ariv says that Donald Bostrom, who wrote the article in Aftonbladet, also alleged in a book he wrote about the Israeli - 'Palestinian' conflict in 2001 that Israel harvested 'Palestinians' organs for transplant. The book was financed by the Swedish foreign ministry and is titled Inshallah (God willing in Arabic).
British moonbat Jenny Tonge has called on Israel to set up an inquiry to disprove allegations that IDF medical personnel harvested organs in Haiti. Uri Dromi rips Tonge in a comment at the Guardian's Comment is Free section.
Attacking Israel's policies is one thing; insinuating that the army of the Jewish state is stealing organs or – as the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet published last year, that the IDF was killing Arabs for their organs – is to repeat what antisemites were saying about the Jews in the darkest periods of history. A blood libel, in short.
Andrew Sullivan refers to this blood libel as 'real' anti-Semitism. It's not clear where Sullivan would come out on the Aftonbladet accusations, but clearly (from other things he has written) he would not regard claims that Israel targeted civilians in Operation Cast Lead last year as a blood libel.
The problem is that it is a short step from one allegation to the other, and in fact, the same people making the Haiti allegations rallied to support the Aftonbladet allegations and were in the forefront of those making the allegations about Israel targeting 'Palestinians' in Operation Cast Lead. It's almost a pity that this time the Guardian seems to have cleaned up the spills in the comment section, because many comments have been deleted that probably would prove my point. But here are some of the comments that the Guardian let stand:
ellis
12 Feb 2010, 4:16PM
the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet published last year, that the IDF was killing Arabs for their organs
The problem was that, despite the routine outbursts (see article above) to the effect that the story was a libelous fabrication, it appeared to have a considerable amount of truth in it.
The fact that this refutation, of the charges concerning Haiti, begins by denying the Aftonbladet story gives Lady Tong's (kudos for those amazingly funny jokes about her name, by the way) an ominous validity.
jamescisv
12 Feb 2010, 4:28PM
Just when we thought we heard everything, there comes Lady Tonge, the Liberal Democrat peer, calling for Israel to set up an inquiry to disprove allegations that its medical teams in Haiti "harvested" organs of earthquake victims for use in transplants.
I'm not saying they are doing it, and I don't know how credible the accusations are, but isn't that precisely the point of setting up an inquiry?
You know, to find stuff out!?
Indeed, in the JC link at the beginning of your article, she said:
''the Israel Defence Forces were to be commended for their fantastic response to the Haitian earthquake?.
but then said:
?To prevent allegations such as these ? which have already been posted on YouTube ? going any further, the IDF and the Israeli Medical Association should establish an independent inquiry immediately to clear the names of the team in Haiti.?
Seems pretty fair to me!
Unlike, say, immediately calling this anti-Israel abuse, or antisemitism, for example!
Aliboy
12 Feb 2010, 4:35PM
So Tonge never said herself that this had happened. So she's anti-semitic when she didn't say it, is that it?
Anti-semitism is very complicated, isn't it? Nothing you can say is not anti-semitic.
Actually, all this article is is another opportunity for Dromi to pull out his accusations of anti-semitism again.
NapoleonKaramazov
12 Feb 2010, 4:38PM
The Israel organs scandal seems to be true, but apparently they also harvested from dead Israeli soldiers and civilians, and foreign workers in addition to Palestinians.
So, really it is an internal issue. Like we had with the Alder Hey organs scandal. It happened at least 10 years ago as well.
Hang on. What evidence do we have, other than what the JC says, that Jenny Tonge said any such thing, or the context in which it was said?
I know she can be a bit extreme in her comments at times, but I can't imagine her offering up this kind of comment without it being prompted.
This is too bizarre. She is an intelligent woman.
(Still, Uri. People say the strangest things sometimes, I'll grant you that, so you might well be right. A year ago you were denying that the IDF were using white phosophorous as a weapon during Operation Cast Lead.)
But if Jenny Tonge really believes that this is something that "needs investigating" then she is off her rocker, frankly. Not to mention being extraordinarily offensive to Jews everywhere.
PhilipD
12 Feb 2010, 4:45PM
I'd rather see what she said directly before accusing her of anti-semitism. From the linked article she seems to have directly rejected the allegations and her call for an investigation was in the spirit of saying that the allegations needed to be directly addressed rather than ignored. In the context, this may have been foolish, but its easy to see how a casual answer to a direct question could have been misintepreted that way.
Mind you, I've never heard of the woman before, and a casual google does indicate that she's a bit of a wild card, to put it mildly. But accusing someone of the very serious charge anti-semitism without directly stating what they said, and in what context they said it, smacks a bit of opportunism, especially as she has a history of campaigning for Palestinians.
BeautifulBurnout
12 Feb 2010, 4:49PM
Erm... the more I look into this, the weirder it appears to be. Google "jenny tonge haiti IDF" and the only results are the JC, ynet and a variety of blogs (any links to the Torygraph are individual bloggers, not Torygraph staff) with a vested interest, shall we say. Nothing reported in anything mainstream.
Is Baroness Tonge being smeared here?
Not happy about the authenticity of this, frankly.
Blood libel is a really vile thing to do. It is up there with holocaust denial in my book. Falsely accusing someone of a blood libel on the flimsiest of evidence is inexcusable.
exiledlondoner
12 Feb 2010, 4:50PM
Yes, Jenny Tonge's brain has clearly departed this world, and moved.. well actually, I have no idea where er brain's gone....
But why oh why get Uri Dromi to write the article? As little more than a professional apologist for the Israeli Military and propagandist for Israel, he will inevitably be the main sunject of the debate - this is a man who campaigns against the investigation of things that really need investigating.
Any number of Israeli writers could have written this article - writers whose attachment to the truth was less questionable. What Jenny Tonge has said is plain wrong. You don't need someone of Mr Dromi's particular talents to write about it - his skills lie elsewhere.
I sometimes wonder whether CIF is trying to start a shouting match for more hits?
BeautifulBurnout
12 Feb 2010, 4:52PM
north
I reiterate - blood libel is vile and disgusting.
However, I am a tad concerned at the authenticity of this, or whether she was quoted out of context, because although she is a mouth-frother when it comes to I/P she is not daft enough to become imbroiled in something as stupid as this, imo. Just my two penn'orth though - I may well be wrong and will apologise if I am.
JackofDiamonds
12 Feb 2010, 4:52PM
I heard that the British army was using the bodies of dead Argentinians left over from the Falklands war to host their efforts at keeping Hitler's brain alive in a secret MI6 facility.
Now set up an impartial investigation to prove this wrong.
But you're talking about the British not the Israelis. The Israelis are capable of anything and everything wicked - that is a given. Going to Haiti was - of course, of course - merely a pretext to steal organs - the evidence is there for all to see. Now let the Israelis get out of that. And let us not forget, that if the Israelis investigate this allegation, the investigation is suspect from the start because the Israelis cannot be trusted, they are bound to cover up their heinous crimes.
No this thing must go to the UN. A commission must be appointed to investigate these crimes. Jenny Tonge would be an ideal candidate for this commission. If the Israelis object to her taking part - it just goes to show they have something to hide. Tonge is a patron of the online newspaper that has bravely published the facts of this case - intrepid, honest, courageous Jenny - thank god for her and her newspaper.
By the way, BeautifulBurnout is marked as a 'contributor,' which I believe means that s/he writes pieces for CiF.
Those comments are all from the first page (50 comments) and there were an additional 20 or so that were deleted. We can only imagine....
By the way, Pamela Geller points out that the person who started the Haiti blood libel is a regular poster on Huffington Post. It figures.
While blood libels like stealing organs are among the most extreme, they are not far removed from claiming that Israel targeted civilians in Operation Cast Lead. Indeed, the same people are behind both allegations. Like many leftists, Andrew Sullivan can't understand that.
UPDATE 6:19 PM
Tonge has been fired as her party's spokesperson on health matters in the House of Lords, but she remains an MP.
Donald Bostrom wins Dishonest Reporting Award for 2009
Aftonbladet's Donald Bostrom has won the 2009 Dishonest Reporting Award given out by HonestReporting.com for his unsupported blood libel that Israeli kills 'Palestinians' to harvest their organs.
The media watchdog organization Honest Reporting has awarded a Swedish journalist its 2009 Dishonest Reporter Award for the most skewed and biased coverage of the Middle East conflict.
Donald Bostrom “touched a nerve in readers in ways that few journalists ever do,” declared the organization. Writing in the Aftonbladet, the largest daily newspaper in Sweden, Bostrom headlined his two-page spread in the cultural section, “They Plunder the Organs of Our Sons.” The article quoted Palestinian Authority Arabs who claimed that IDF soldiers kidnapped young men from Judea, Samaria and Gaza and later returned their bodies, minus their organs.
Bostrom admitted to having failed to independently verify the claims of his sources, specifically of the family of Bilal Ahmed Ghanem, who died in 1992. “I was [present] during the interview that night, I was a witness. 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,” he said.
Arabic-speaking Jerusalem Post reporter Khaled Abu Toameh tracked down the family himself, said Honest Reporting – and the family denied ever having told Bostrom their son was missing organs. “The mother denied that she had told any foreign journalist that her son’s organs had been stolen. However, she said that now she does not rule out the possibility that Israel was harvesting organs of Palestinians…” Toameh wrote.
The editor of the Aftonbladet, Jan Helin, backed his reporter and accused Israel of a cover-up, even though it is medically impossible to harvest organs from a body that sustained gunshot wounds in the abdomen and chest, as Bostrom reported that Ghanem did.
The Swedish government refused to condemn the article, insisting that journalists had the right to “free speech.”
On Tuesday, al-Guardian issued a correction in which they changed the headline (Hat Tip: Snapshots).
We should not have put the headline "Israel admits harvesting Palestinian organs" on a story about an admission, by the former head of the Abu Kabir forensic institute near Tel Aviv, that during the 1990s specialists at the institute harvested organs from the bodies of Israeli soldiers, Israeli citizens, Palestinians and foreign workers without getting permission from the families of the deceased (21 December, page 15). That headline did not match the article, which made clear that the organs were not taken only from Palestinians. This was a serious editing error and the headline has been changed online to reflect the text of the story written by the reporter.
I would rather have seen that item end, "This was a serious editing error and the editor has been fired/disciplined." But al-Guardian didn't go that far, and the story's damage had not only been done already - it continues to spread.
Yet as of Tuesday evening (Iran-time), for a second straight day, the British taxpayer-funded BBC Persian language service is continuing to highlight the lie that Israel is harvesting the organs of Palestinians on its home page here, and in a story here.
You do not see such garbage on Radio Farda, which is the U.S. government’s equivalent of BBC Persian.
BBC Persian is under the direct supervision of the British foreign office. Why British politicians and commentators (including those from the Conservative Party) put up with it, is beyond me.
Isn’t the Iranian regime serving up enough anti-Semitic hate to their own public without the BBC joining in?
It's now Thursday night in Tehran, and although the item no longer appears on the BBC's home page, it still appears on the site itself. The original URL above still works. There's a Google translation here.
Meanwhile, CAMERA points out the hypocrisy of Aftonbladet, the Swedish newspaper that started the blood libel about organ harvesting, which is ignoring a story that first appeared in the Kuwait Times about Palestinians' kidneys being sold.
On October 23, CAMERA's Andrea Levin sent the following letter to Aftonbladet.
October 23, 2009
Dear Mr. Helin,
I write to bring your attention to an AFP story this week concerning organ trafficking in Jordan. Palestinians, it seems, are chief among those targeted. As the Oct 21 piece in the Kuwaiti Arab Times paper linked here notes [ed: the link to the Kuwaiti paper has been removed. The AFP original remains] :
According to a recent government study of 130 cases in which kidneys were sold, nearly 80 percent of 'donors' were Palestinians from Baqaa in northwest Amman, the largest refugee camp in the country.
We're wondering if you'll be covering this story — which is a current one, verifiable and not from 1992 as Donald Bostrom's was — about organ abuses. We assume, on the basis of Aftonbladet's August 17 story that the paper has a particular interest in organ trafficking issues, as well as the concerns of Palestinians in this regard.We look forward to your informing your readers about the trafficking reported here and the reference to Egypt, India and Pakistan as venues for harvesting organs from various vulnerable peoples.
As previously requested, we continue to urge response to our letter of September 11, 2009and corrections of errors in the August 17 Aftonbladet feature story.
Sincerely,
Andrea Levin Executive Director and President CAMERA
As of Wednesday, Ms. Levin had received no response to her letter. I'm sure you're all shocked.
The moral bankruptcy of Europe and its media continues.
EU to help Sweden save face by condemning Aftonbladet article?
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini is trying to resolve the Aftonbladet controversy in a face-saving manner for Sweden by having the European Union - whose Presidency is currently held by Sweden - condemn the newspaper's blood libel at a meeting later this week.
In a telephone conversation with Haaretz, Frattini said he recently met with his Swedish counterpart, Carl Bildt, and the two agreed that at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers later this week, they will 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 on the continent.
Frattini said he intends to demand that the meeting's summary statement explicitly condemn the article published in the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet, which claimed that Israeli soldiers harvested the organs of dead Palestinians. He said his proposed statement would declare articles of this sort to be "acts of blatant anti-Semitism."
"There are limits to freedom of the press that stem from respect for the truth and the duty of every journalist to prove his claims," Frattini explained.
The Prime Minister's Office declined comment on the Italian initiative, but the foreign ministry commented very bluntly:
"Every initiative against anti-Semitism is welcome," said Yigal Palmor, that ministry's spokesman. "But if the declaration is general and does not specifically relate to the article in Aftonbladet, it will not resolve anything.
"We did not ask for an apology, or for measures against the newspaper or the journalist," he added. "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."
That's certainly reasonable. Let's see if Italy proposes the initiative and whether Sweden votes in favor.
Is Carl Bildt (Swedish foreign minister) still coming here this week?
Swedish tabloid publishes claim that IDF harvested 'Palestinians' organs
A few weeks ago, a group of American Jews of (mainly) Syrian origin was arrested in the New York area as part of a more widescale investigation into political corruption in New York and New Jersey. The investigation included one charge that didn't fit in with the rest. It claimed that one of the Jews charged had obtained kidneys from Israel and resold them on the black market in the United States.
On Tuesday, the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet introduced an anti-Semitic libel more vicious than anything we have heard in a long time. The tabloid claimed (with photographs - see below) that the IDF had harvested organs from dead 'Palestinians' and sold them to this particular Jew. The two pictures below are screenshots from Aftonbladet - the rest of the story follows them:
For those who don't read Swedish, here's what the report says:
The report carried a photograph that purportedly shows the body of a victim of such an execution, with a large scar running from his chin to his abdomen. It notes the IDF’s explanation that the scar is from an autopsy which is routinely performed on people who are killed in fighting – but seems not to give it much credit and prefers a completely unsubstantiated claim by Arabs regarding forced organ harvesting.
The report, which appears under the heading, in quotes, "Our sons plundered for their organs,” begins with snippets from a transcript of an FBI recording of a Jewish man who was arrested in July, in connection with a corruption scandal in New Jersey involving elected officials, rabbis, money laundering and illegal organ trading.
Immediately after providing a short description of the FBI’s suspicions against that group, reporter Donald Boström takes his readers across the ocean to discuss the organ trade in Israel, without explaining what connection there may be between the two matters. He describes “a strong suspicion” among Palestinians that young men’s organs were harvested by the IDF “as in China and Pakistan.” Boström repeats that this is “a very serious suspicion” and suggests that the International Court of Justice should open an investigation into it.
The paper says that half of the kidneys that are used in transplants in Israel are purchased illegally from Turkey, Eastern Europe or Latin America and that Israeli health authorities have full knowledge of the matter, but do nothing to stop it. It then connects the shortage of body parts in Israel to stories of Palestinian men who, it says, are killed and returned to their villages five days later by the IDF.
The reporter then gives what he says is his own eyewitness account from 1992 -- 17 years ago -- of an IDF raid on a village in which a rioter named Bilal Achmed Ghanaian was shot and severely injured. He was taken away by a military helicopter and brought back by the army five days later, dead. As his family members buried him, they saw a large scar running from his stomach to his chin.
The report then quotes Arabs who claim that their sons were used as forced organ donors but provides no support for this claim.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor characterized the story as "racist hysteria at its worst."
"No one should tolerate such a demonizing piece of medieval blood libel that surely encourages hate crimes against Jews," Palmor said. "This is a shame to freedom of expression, and all Swedes should reject it unconditionally."
Israel's embassy in Stockholm was expected to issue a sharp denunciation.
In the story, headlined "They plunder the organs of our sons," and accompanied by a gruesome photograph, Palestinians are quoted as saying IDF soldiers kidnapped their sons and stole organs.
Haaretz quoted Donald Bostrom as writing the following: "'Our sons are used as involuntary organ donors,' relatives of Khaled from Nablus said to me, as did the mother of Raed from Jenin, as well as the uncles of Machmod and Nafes from Gaza, who all had disappeared for a few days and returned by night, dead and autopsied."
What we ought to do is recall the ambassador unless the Swedish government denounces this nonsense. Sweden has been the site of enough anti-Israel riots this year.
The only silver lining in this cloud is that at least one Swedish newspaper has come to Israel's defense.
A competing newspaper, Sydsvenskan, ran an op-ed on the story under the headline "Antisemitbladet," in an obvious reference to Aftonbladet's name.
"Whispers in the dark. Anonymous sources. Rumors," wrote Swedish columnist Mats Skogkär. "That is all it takes. After all, we all know what they [the Jews] are like, don't we: inhuman, hardened. Capable of anything. Now all that remains is the defense, equally predictable: 'Anti-Semitism? No, no, just criticism of Israel.'"
Let's hope Sweden's large Muslim population doesn't issue a fatwa against Skogkär or Sydsvenskan.
In case you were wondering, Aftonbladet has a circulation of 1.5 million readers per day.
An Israeli in Stockholm comments on the Aftonbladet blood libel
David Stavrou, an Israeli living in Stockholm, criticizes both sides in the Aftonbladet blood libel controversy. His criticism of the Swedes is spot-on. His criticism of Israel seems to be limited to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's comparison of Sweden's behavior now with its behavior in the Holocaust, and while he has a point I'm not sure it's a correct one.
Here's part of what he has to say about Sweden.
Theirs isn't traditional anti-Semitism based on religion (the Jews killed Jesus). It isn't even modern anti-Semitism (the Jews are rich and control the world). This is post modern anti-Semitism. It's all about ratings and it's business orientated. It sells newspapers. Nobody cares about the truth because it's subjective anyway, nobody has time for research and you can definitely count on it that no one will take responsibility. The writer gets his 15 minutes of fame; the paper makes millions. And damn the consequences.
But it's not just about money; it's also about politics too. The never ending and, quite frankly, tedious text Swedish officials use about freedom of speech is not relevant in this case. First of all, despite the claims of various official spokespeople, it is not absolute and untouchable, even in Sweden: witness the Danish Muhammad cartoons, and various regulations, self-censorship and safeguards that protect Swedes from offensive commercials and sensitive publications.
Sweden is very firm when it defends the rights of large minorities or powerful establishments (like Aftonbladet) but much less decisive when it comes to weaker groups or even the general public. This is why authorities in Malmö preferred to defend the right of an angry mob to boycott a tennis match between Israel and Sweden than to defend the right of the general public to watch the match.
Is Sweden's Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, really so naïve that he thinks that freedom of speech in Sweden applies equally to everyone and works equally for every one? I don't think so. When he says that free press and free speech are the best defence against "breaches of judgment, bad taste and transgressions of core societal values", he knows very well that these freedoms can very easily be used to wage attacks on minorities by an aggressive majority. Israel isn't a minority in Sweden but an attack against it is very popular in many circles. This is where Bildt's claims have a cynical twist. Defending freedom of speech in this case earns him the support of many. Especially valuable is the support of many on the other side of the Swedish political spectrum. What politician would object to that?
To be fair, Bildt and Sweden's political establishment didn't have to limit freedom of speech; they weren't requested to close down Aftonbladet or to censor it. Instead of flying empty slogans which hide political interest, all they needed to do was to say they don't believe the allegations and they see them as provocative and irresponsible. That's not taking sides, it's just being fair-minded. Instead of that, Bildt chose to distance himself from Sweden's ambassador to Israel who did exactly that. He did the math: no one gains political points in Sweden from pleasing Israel. Quite the opposite.
And here's part of what he had to say about Israel:
But the cynicism is not limited to the Swedish side. Israel too is responsible for the deterioration of the situation. Every state has the right to defend itself against slander and lies, even if they're published in a paper thousands of miles away. But there must be some kind of discretion in choosing methods of defence and counter attack. I would like to know, for example, who chose to use the holocaust card as the first reaction. Surely, of all the arsenal of Israeli arguments, another one could have been used against a Swedish tabloid, Auschwitz could have been saved for say, states that say they want to annihilate Israel and are in the process of building the weapons to do it. If, according to Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the Afonbladet article is like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Bildt's refusal do condemn it is equivalent to Sweden's WW2 neutrality, then what is left for going after terrorist attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets and against genocidal, fascist regimes?
This is why he's wrong about Israel. First, this is not the first such incident in Sweden. Stavrou mentions the Davis Cup match in Malmo, and one could add to it the 'art' exhibit lauding the suicide bomber five years ago and many other incidents. Perhaps Lieberman was wrong to raise the Holocaust. But perhaps he wasn't because the behavior Sweden exhibits now is reminiscent of German behavior in the 1930's. Speaking of which, if something like this had happened in Germany, would Stavrou also have argued that it was wrong to bring up the Holocaust?
Second, Sweden has shown time and again that it is an anti-Semitic country. A 2006 survey showed that 41% of Swedes were very or somewhat negatively inclined toward Jews (and were willing to admit to it). 41%! That's a huge number! While Lieberman may come on strong, we are long past the point where something needs to be said about Sweden's attitude towards Jews!
While this may be uncomfortable for Stavrou living in Israel, the fact that a country that holds the Presidency of the European Union has such a history of anti-Semitism (yes, going back to World War II) is a serious issue, and one that Israel needs to make sure is raised again and again with its friends in Europe so that they will be on alert to serve as a counterbalance for Sweden's hostile positions.
Swedish Chancellor of Justice to determine charges of racial agitation
The Swedish Chancellor of Justice has been asked to determine whether the Social Democratic party's daily tabloid Aftonbladet is guilty of racial agitation in light of its unsubstantiated blood libel that charges IDF soldiers with having murdered 'Palestinians' and stolen and sold their organs.
"Is that true? I am perplexed," Åsa Linderborg, Aftonbladet's culture editor, said after being informed by the The Local of the report on Tuesday.
"I think it is a shame that whenever solidarity is shown for the Palestinians and criticism is directed again Israel, someone cries anti-Semitism."
"One has to have the right to ask questions," Linderborg replied when asked if she or the newspaper regretted publishing the article.
Nils Funcke, one of Sweden's leading experts on legislation pertaining to freedom of speech, said he expected the Chancellor of Justice to reject the case.
"The article can hardly be construed as racial agitation. There is no ethnic group targeted; the article focuses on the Israeli army, and Israel is not made up solely of Jews," Funcke told The Local.
Even had the article concentrated on a single ethnic group, Funcke did not believe it would be considered "agitation" under the law.
"It was more a description of events and certainly did not agitate against a particular group."
Funcke added that charges set forth by Israeli politicians to the effect that Aftonbladet's article followed in a long tradition of "blood libels" against Jews would not hold up under legal scrutiny.
Funcke is being disingenuous in the extreme. No one thinks of the IDF as being anything other than a Jewish army. Most of the Arab population doesn't even serve in it. When one adds to this the association with the rabbi in New York who has been charged with organ trafficking, it is clear to everyone what ethnic group is being targeted here.
And how is describing events that never occurred that are sure to rile people up (if the description is believed) not considered agitation?
As to Ms. Linderborg, if I were to meet her in person, I would love to ask her how long she has been tasering men who speak to her in bars and see how she would prove that the charges are false.
Sweden has a warped sense of what 'freedom of speech' means. It doesn't give you the right to slander others or to say things without having to take responsibility for their direct consequences. As Oliver Wendell Holmes pointed out 150 years ago, no right, not even freedom of speech, can be absolute.
On Wednesday, the Swedish embassy in Tel Aviv issued a statement condemning the vile accusations made in the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet that Israel harvests the organs of dead 'Palestinians' for re-sale abroad.
"The article in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet is as shocking and appalling to us Swedes as it is to Israeli citizens. We share the dismay expressed by Israeli government representatives, media and the Israeli public. This embassy cannot but clearly distance itself from it," the statement said.
It continued its condemnation of the paper by saying, "Freedom of the press and freedom of expression are freedoms which carry a certain responsibility. It falls on the editor-in-chief of any given newspaper."
On Thursday, Sweden's ambassador to Israel finds herself under fire back in Sweden for allegedly interfering with Sweden's obtuse concept of 'free speech.'
Swedish opposition leaders on Tuesday slammed Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier for calling an article by tabloid Aftonbladet, which said Israeli troops harvested the organs of Palestinians, "shocking and appalling."
Green Party spokesman Per Gahrton says Borsiin Bonnier should be recalled and taught "the basics of Swedish freedom of speech."
The Foreign Ministry distanced itself from her statement, saying it had no comment.
What about Borsiin Bonnier's free speech? Doesn't she have the right to say that a newspaper article is 'shocking and appalling'?
Since I don't live there and have never set foot in Sweden (although I did once close a transaction pursuant to which a company I represented was sold to a Swedish company), I will take the liberty of saying that something is seriously sick about Swedish society. But then, based on the list of recent incidents I mentioned yesterday, we all knew that already.
You just knew this would happen. The 'Palestinians' have latched onto the Aftonbladet blood libel, accusing Israel of murdering 'Palestinians' and then selling their organs for profit. Not just any 'Palestinians' but our 'peace partners' from the 'Palestinian Authority.' Barack Obama's 'moderates.'
This video features excerpts from an interview with Omar Al-Ghoul, Mahmoud Abbas's advisor on national affairs, which aired on PA TV on September 1, 2009:
Let's go to the videotape. A transcript and more comments will follow:
Omar Al-Ghoul: Italian Foreign Minister Frattini said to the Israeli Haaretz newspaper that Italy is exerting pressure on Sweden in its capacity as current EU president to issue a statement during a special session of the EU government next week, denouncing the report by a Swedish newspaper about the IDF's killing of Palestinian prisoners and trafficking in their organs. You know, as the whole world knows, about what happened in New Jersey, where a group of Jewish and Zionist rabbis were arrested, along with some other people. All these people were in direct contact with Lieberman and other IDF commanders, and were trafficking in human organs.
[...]
Europe, and the West in general, has been very weak vis-à-vis Israel, since its establishment. The [West] is being extorted. Who established Israel? Europe and the U.S. did, by means of their support of this country, at the expense of the interests of the Palestinian people and the Arabs. Europe still has a guilt complex towards this country, and so, whenever there is a crisis, they come up with this ready-made accusation of antisemitism. Who are the Semites? We, the Arabs, are the Semites.
[...]
If Europe wants a political settlement and peace, and if it wants to live in harmony with the spirit of European, Western civilization, and with the ideas of Enlightenment, developed by great European philosophers, it must unbridle freedom of speech, and must demand that all newspapers investigate this report more thoroughly, in order to expose this racist, rogue country, which is above the law.
[...]
The facts show that Israel and its army are trafficking in the organs of Palestinians. There are documents to this effect. Why is Europe trying to stop this [from being exposed]?
Why does the Palestinian people have to pay the price under occupation? Why must it be tortured and the organs of its martyred sons used for trafficking? This is the result of the [moral] bankruptcy of the U.S. and Europe and the cover they provide [Israel]. These countries must rise to their responsibility, if they are interested in making peace and reaching a settlement in the region.
During the night on Saturday night, I reported that Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, who is one of the main perpetrators of this blood libel under the guise of 'freedom of the press' had canceled his visit to Israel, which was scheduled for September 11 of all days.
Bildt is now trying to put a new spin on the cancellation:
Anna Brodin, political officer at the Swedish consulate in Jerusalem, said on Sunday that Bildt has put off his visit in the hope Mideast peacemaking would progress during the UN General Assembly later this month.
"It has been delayed until after the General Assembly in New York, when there might be more substance in the process," Brodin said.
But in Stockholm, Bildt spokeswoman Irena Busic denied the foreign minister had canceled a trip to Israel, saying a date had never been set. Now was not a good time for such a trip, she said, citing logistical reasons and the "situation in the peace process."
Both Swedish officials denied the article in the Swedish daily Aftonbladet had anything to do with Bildt's travel plans.
The Swedish reporter who penned a story in the Aftonbladet tabloid that claimed Israel is harvesting 'Palestinians' organs for resale abroad says that he is 'not sure' the story is true.
"I have a personal opinion, it concerns me that it's true," Donald Bostrom, who penned the story, told Israel Radio en route to an emergency meeting at the editorial offices Aftonbladet, presumably to discuss the aftermath of the report.
"I was [present] during the interview that night, I was a witness. It concerns me to the extent that I want it to be investigated," Bostrom told the station. "But whether it's true or not - I have no idea, I have no clue."
He was referring to a Palestinian witness who recounted an incident where a Palestinian was allegedly taken by the Israeli military and his body returned several days later - lacking some internal organs.
Unfortunately, the only people named in the story are the man who was arrested in New York and the 'Palestinian' who told the story. Otherwise this would make one heck of a libel suit.
Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon called on the Swedish government to condemn the story:
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon responded to the report by saying: "This is a blood libel and the worst type of anti-Semitism."
Ayalon called on the Swedish government to condemn these accusations and said Israel "sees a correlation between the Swedish government's public statements, which are extremely critical of Israel, and anti-Semitism in the press."
Israel summoned the Swedish ambassador in Tel Aviv and sent its own ambassador in Stockholm - who was just dressed down two weeks ago by the Swedish foreign ministry over the construction at Sheikh Jarrah - to protest the article. The Swedish embassy in Tel Aviv has issued a statement as well:
"The article in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet is as shocking and appalling to us Swedes as it is to Israeli citizens. We share the dismay expressed by Israeli government representatives, media and the Israeli public. This embassy cannot but clearly distance itself from it," the statement said.
It continued its condemnation of the paper by saying, "Freedom of the press and freedom of expression are freedoms which carry a certain responsibility. It falls on the editor-in-chief of any given newspaper."
But Sweden, which currently holds the Presidency of the European Union, has a history of anti-Israel behavior that didn't start in August 2009. In March, riots accompanied the appearance of the Israeli Davis Cup team in Malmo, Sweden, and Israel's match against Sweden had to be played without fans present. In February, there were riots in Malmo in connection with protests against Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.
In 2006, Sweden canceled its participation in an international air force exercise because Israel was participating. It granted visas to Hamas representatives to raise money in Sweden. That same year, it labeled wine made in the Golan as having been made in 'Israeli-occupied Syria.'
In 2004, Israel's then-ambassador to Sweden Zvi Mazel pulled the plug on an 'art exhibit' in a Stockholm museum that celebrated a suicide bomber who murdered 21 people at a mixed Jewish-Arab restaurant in Haifa.
There's a detailed study of anti-Israel bias in the Swedish media here. Nazi Germany had very little on these people. If you could have picked a country that was likely to publish a blood libel like the one published on Tuesday, Sweden should have been high on your list.
Video: 2 Swedish Jews deliver Achmed's kidneys to Aftonbladet
Two Swedish Jews have taken it upon themselves to respond to Aftonbladet's organ theft libel through humor. They filmed themselves delivering 'Achmed's kidneys' to Aftonbladet's offices.
Spanish newspaper calls David Irving 'expert' on WWII
The Spanish newspaper El Mundo is including convicted Holocaust denier David Irving (pictured) among its 'experts' in a series of interviews marking the 70th anniversary of World War II's outbreak. The interview is scheduled to appear in Saturday's editions of the paper, one day after an interview with Yad Vashem director Avner Shalev.
El Mundo is the second largest daily newspaper in Spain, with a print circulation of more than 330,000.
In a letter responding to the expected appearance of the interview with David Irving, Israel's ambassador to Spain, Raphael Schutz, correctly described the cultural problem with our post-modern society. The letter appeared in El Mundo on Wednesday.
Schutz wrote that one of the problems facing the post-modern age was an inability to recognize anything as true, saying instead that there were only "different narratives."
As such, Schutz wrote, there was no capacity to differentiate between truth and lies, between the important and the superfluous. And in this world void of truth, everything is at the same level - the murdered and the victim, the wise and the ignorant, Mozart's opera and the latest pop song.
Even freedom of the press, Schutz wrote, had limits. One sentence that was edited out of his letter was his charge that the paper was printing the interview to cause a sensation.
The paper's response, which was run under the letter, was not to endorse Irving's ideas, but rather to cite press freedom and the right for everyone to decide on their own.
Schutz's view is the antithesis of Barack Obama's 'multicultural' world, where all countries are equal, all nations are equal, each country gets one vote in the UN, each country has the right to sit on the 'Human Rights Council' regardless of how miserable their own record on human rights is, and there is no country that has a claim on being unique. The reasons that the Europeans love Obama are the same reasons that his worldview poses such a danger to democracies everywhere.
As to the claim of 'freedom of the press,' let's see if the Spanish government does what the Swedish government still has not done in the Aftonbladet case. Freedom of the press requires allowing all points of view to be expressed, but it does not require newspapers or governments to provide a forum for that expression. If the Irving interview does appear, Israel should call on the Spanish government to disavow the validity of Irving's viewpoint. But don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen. Ever since the Zapatero government came to power in Spain in 2004, that country has become increasingly anti-Semitic.
Speaking of Aftonbladet, the Syrian government has praised that newspaper's blood libel that claimed that IDF troops dismember 'Palestinians' and sell their organs for profit.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
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.
