JERUSALEM: Israel slams Swedish tabloid story on Palestinian organ theft

Record ID: 755683

  • Title: JERUSALEM: Israel slams Swedish tabloid story on Palestinian organ theft
  • Date: 21st August 2009
  • Summary: JERUSALEM (AUGUST 19, 2009) (REUTERS) ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON YIGAL PALMOR TALKING ON MOBILE PHONE, WALKING PAST CAMERA CLOSEUP OF PALMOR TALKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) YIGAL PALMOR, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON, SAYING "The article carried by Aftonbladet is clearly a piece of racist hysteria, there is no other way to describe this piece of shameful racism. Here we have the most abominable accusations carried out and presented without a slightest piece of evidence. This article has clear elements of medieval blood libels against Jews. It represents a clear danger because it encourages, by what it implies by what it insinuates and by what it says clearly, it encourages hate crimes against Jews and this is intolerable." PALMOR TALKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) YIGAL PALMOR, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON, SAYING "We are considering all measures that can be taken within a legal framework against the newspaper. We still need to study the text and to see what is possible within this legal framework, but we don't rule out anything at this point. We consider this incident very gravely, I mean, we have hardly seen any precedent in recent years in Europe of such a blatant call for racism acts." ROBERT ROSET, DIRECTOR OF LIBRARIES AT YAD VASHEM HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM, WALKING ROSET TALKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROBERT ROSET, DIRECTOR OF LIBRARIES AT YAD VASHEM HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM, SAYING: "It's deeply troubling that a major Swedish newspaper would publish the kind of lies that are reminiscent of things that were said about Jews in the past - blood libel, that there's a Jewish world conspiracy afoot. We know where these things led in the past, we know what kind of violence they spread in the past and therefore we think this is a cause for a lot of introspection among Swedish society today." WIDER VIEW OF ROSET TALKING TO REPORTER
  • Embargoed: 5th September 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVACME5TO681IN0T19UUQ9YHOC8M
  • Story Text: A Swedish tabloid newspaper provoked outrage in Israel on Wednesday (August 19) after it ran a story on transplant organ theft, accusing the Israeli army of stealing organs from Palestinians.
    A spokesman for the Israeli government described the story as "shameful racism."
    "The article carried by Aftonbladet is clearly a piece of racist hysteria, there is no other way to describe this piece of shameful racism," said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor.
    "Here we have the most abominable accusations carried out and presented without a slightest piece of evidence," he added.
    The newspaper repeated Palestinian accusations dating to the early 1990s that the Israeli army took organs from men who died in custody. The article also noted a current case in New Jersey where an American Jew is charged over trafficking in kidneys.
    Israelis often see European criticism of their policies toward Palestinians as anti-Semitic, and such tensions have been high since Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip in January.
    The response to Aftonbladet was unusually strong, however.
    Palmor said Israel was considering legal action and that the editors should at least apologise for "a blatant call for racism acts".
    "We are considering all measures that can be taken within a legal framework against the newspaper. We still need to study the text and to see what is possible within this legal framework but we don't rule out anything at this point," he said.
    Palmor's grievances were shared at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum in Jerusalem, where director of libraries Robert Roset called for "a lot of introspection" among Swedish society.
    "It's deeply troubling that a major Swedish newspaper would publish the kind of lies that are reminiscent of things that were said about Jews in the past - blood libel, that there's a Jewish world conspiracy afoot. We know where these things led in the past, we know what kind of violence they spread in the past and therefore we think this is a cause for a lot of introspection among Swedish society today," Roset said.
    The Swedish journalist who wrote the story, Donald Bostrom, rejected suggestions he was a racist. He told Israel Radio he did not know whether allegations made by Palestinians in the 1990s were true. But they should be investigated, he said.
    Aftonbladet's editors in Stockholm made no comment.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register