Fury in Israel over claims army kills Palestinians for their organs

Aug 19, 2009, 13:38 GMT

Tel Aviv - Sweden's Embassy in Tel Aviv distanced itself Wednesday from a report in a Swedish daily accusing Israel of plundering the organs of dead Palestinians, saying the article 'was shocking and appalling to us Swedes as it is to Israeli citizens.'

The author of the article, Donald Bostrom, admitted to Israel Radio that he had 'no idea' whether the claims, which appeared on August 17 in the Swedish Aftonbladet newspaper, were true.

A statement from the Swedish Embassy in Tel Aviv, signed by Ambassador Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier, said about the article: 'We share the dismay expressed by Israeli government representatives, media and the Israeli public. This Embassy cannot but clearly distance itself from it.

'Just as in Israel, freedom of the press prevails in Sweden. However, freedom of the press and freedom of expression are freedoms which carry a certain responsibility,' the statement added.

Bostrom, a Swedish documentary photographer, freelance journalist and author, told Israel Radio that he had a 'personal opinion' on the Palestinian claims in his article.

'It concerns me, in the sense that I want it to be investigated, that's true. But whether it's true or not, I have no idea, I have no clue,' he said.

Bostrom's article, published on August 17 in the arts and culture section of the Stockholm newspaper, caused a storm in Israel.

Headlined 'Our sons are plundered of their organs,' the report claimed that the bodies of Palestinians seized in the West Bank were returned to their families with missing organs.

'I was in the region and was working on a book when I was contacted on several occasions by UN employees who were concerned over these events,' Bostrom wrote.

'Those who contacted me said that organ theft actually occurred, but they were prevented from acting,' he added.

He said that in 1992 he spoke, on behalf of a television company, to 'a large number of Palestinian families on the West Bank and Gaza who thought that their sons had been plundered of organs before they were killed.

'Our sons were used as involuntary organ donors,' Bostrom quoted Palestinians as saying.

The article also referred to the recent arrests in the US state of New Jersey of several US Jews, including rabbis, for a number of alleged crimes, including brokering the sale of organs for transplant.

Bostrom confirmed to Israel Radio that the Palestinian families had refused autopsies on the bodies, which could have bolstered their accusations.

Bostrom's remark that he himself was unsure of the accuracy of the claims in his article appeared to contradict the reported comments of Asa Linderborg, editor of Aftonbladet's culture section.

Linderborg, who told her newspaper in January that she wished for a 'free Palestine,' was quoted in the Israeli Ha'aretz daily as saying that 'to the best of my knowledge, there are no facts there that are incorrect.'

Israeli officials and media reacted furiously to the article, with some saying it evoked the infamous 'blood libel,' which first became widespread in medieval Europe and accuses Jews of using the blood of non-Jews to make ritual food for the Passover ceremony.

Deputy Israel Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon called Wednesday on the Swedish government to condemn the article, which he called 'groundless' and 'an outright blood libel.'

On Tuesday Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman Yigal Palmor condemned the story as 'racist hysteria at its worst.'