Israel Admits To Organ Harvesting

[Sionnach Glic]

Israel admits harvesting Palestinian organs

Israel has admitted that pathologists harvested organs from dead Palestinians, and others without the consent of their families - a practice that it said ended in the 1990s, it emerged at the weekend.

The admission, by the former head of the country's forensic institute, followed a furious row prompted by a Swedish newspaper reporting that Israel was killing Palestinians in order to use their organs - a charge that Israel denied and called "antisemitic".

The revelation, in a television documentary, is likely to generate anger in the Arab and Muslim world and reinforce sinister stereotypes of Israel and its attitude to Palestinians. Iran's state-run Press TV tonight reported the story, illustrated with photographs of dead or badly injured Palestinians.

Ahmed Tibi, an Israeli Arab MP, said the report incriminated the Israeli army.

The story emerged in an interview with Dr Yehuda Hiss, former head of the Abu Kabir forensic institute near Tel Aviv. The interview was conducted in 2000 by an American academic who released it because of the row between Israel and Sweden over a report in the Stockholm newspaper Aftonbladet.

Channel 2 TV reported that in the 1990s, specialists at Abu Kabir harvested skin, corneas, heart valves and bones from the bodies of Israeli soldiers, Israeli citizens, Palestinians and foreign workers, often without permission from relatives.

The Israeli military confirmed to the programme that the practice took place, but added: "This activity ended a decade ago and does not happen any longer."

Hiss said: "We started to harvest corneas ... whatever was done was highly informal. No permission was asked from the family."

However, there was no evidence that Israel had killed Palestinians to take their organs, as the Swedish paper reported. Aftonbladet quoted Palestinians as saying young men from the West Bank and Gaza Strip had been seized by the Israeli forces and their bodies returned to their families with missing organs. The interview with Hiss was released by Nancy Sheppard-Hughes, professor of anthropology at the University of California-Berkeley who had conducted a study of Abu Kabir.

She was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that while Palestinians were "by a long shot" not the only ones affected, she felt the interview must be made public, because "the symbolism, you know, of taking skin of the population considered to be the enemy, [is] something, just in terms of its symbolic weight, that has to be reconsidered."

Israel demanded that Sweden condemn the Aftonbladet article, calling it an antisemitic "blood libel". Stockholm refused, saying that to so would violate freedom of speech in the country. The foreign minister then cancelled a visit to Israel, just as Sweden was taking over the EU's rotating presidency.

Hiss was removed from his post in 2004, when some details about organ harvesting were first reported, but he still works at the forensic institute.

Israel's health ministry said all harvesting was now done with permission. "The guidelines at that time were not clear," it said in a statement to Channel 2. "For the last 10 years, Abu Kabir has been working according to ethics and Jewish law."

Source

[Monroe]

And Israel wonders why the world hates them.

[Sionnach Glic]

Oh, they're well aware of why. They just know that as long as the US continues to pal around with them then they're free to do whatever the hell they want, and they can keep whoring the Holocaust to paint any criticism as being anti-Semitic.

[Deepcrush]

Anyone here think it would be funny to have the US say "We are no longer allies with Israel" and then watch the fireworks?

[Captain Seafort]

When you say "fireworks", I assume you mean the Arabs rolling in, followed shortly thereafter by the entire middle east going Samson?

[Deepcrush]

When you say "fireworks", I assume you mean the Arabs rolling in, followed shortly thereafter by the entire middle east going Samson?

Duh! If we did it on 3rd July. We could have the greatest 4th of July display EVER! That would have to go in the Freaking Awesome thread too.

[kostmayer]

Israeli Independence day.

I like it.

[Deepcrush]

Israeli Independence day.

I like it.

Oh wait... thats so wrong of me to laugh at... oh well!

[sunnyside]

Oh, they're well aware of why. They just know that as long as the US continues to pal around with them then they're free to do whatever the hell they want, and they can keep whoring the Holocaust to paint any criticism as being anti-Semitic.

Basically. While I wish my country would let them know they need to knock it off with some of the crap they do, I also blame the general lack of balls between the US and Russia when it comes to things outside ones borders. It's kind of ridiculous to have one country be the sole superpower and expect them to not be dicks about it sometimes. And I'd really rather the eventually balancing forces wasn't some oppressive regime.

[thelordharry]

Is anyone else thinking of the Vidians?

[Mikey]

Wouldn't Palestinian organs be non-kosher?

Sorry about that...

This is why I like to proclaim the fact, as in the Holocause reparations" thread, that Israel and global Judaism are not the same entities. Now, I know this discussion will probably deteriorate into whining about how Israel shouldn't defend itself from Palestinian terrorism, and other crap like that... but while it is on topic, let me say that things like this are why not every Jew is a Zionist.

[Captain Seafort]

And, conversely, the reason Israel gets away with a lot of its antics is because not every Zionist is a Jew.

[sunnyside]

And, conversely, the reason Israel gets away with a lot of its antics is because not every Zionist is a Jew.

I've always found it odd, but a number of fundie christian groups were and are strong supporters of the Jewish state. Famously the mormons, but others as well.

[Captain Seafort]

It's apparently something to do with all Jews needing to return to the Holy Land before the Rapture can happen.

[IanKennedy]

It's apparently something to do with all Jews needing to return to the Holy Land before the Rapture can happen.

That suggests that if we keep them from going it will never happen?