Media News - Thursday, August 20, 2009

Sweden slams paper over Israel allegations

Sweden's embassy in Tel Aviv has sharply condemned Sweden's largest circulation newspaper Aftonbladet for publishing an article accusing the Israeli Defence Forces of harvesting the organs of Palestinians. "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," writes Ambassador Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier on the Swedish Embassy website. Aftonbladet's article, 'Våra söner plundras på sina organ' ('They plunder the organs of our sons'), has sparked outrage in Israel. Published on Monday, the article by photographer and writer Donald Boström accuses the Israeli army of involvement in the illegal human organ trade. In a new twist to claims he has laid out several times previously, Boström links allegations of organ harvesting made by individual Palestinians to a New York-based crime suspect, Rabbi Levy Izhak Rosenbaum, recently accused of attempting to facilitate the sale of a kidney from a donor in Israel. Ambassador Bonnier stressed that Sweden, like Israel, enjoyed a free press. Aftonbladet's culture editor Åsa Linderborg defended the publication and expressed surprise at the strong reactions in Israel. "It surprises me really. The questions that it raises are nothing new. The Knesset has on several occasions discussed the issue of widespread organ trading in Israel." She added that she did not in any way regret publishing the article. "No. Why should I? Furthermore I am indignant that they (Israel) would get involved in what is published in the Swedish media. I think it is embarrassing for them that they would question our right to publish." (The Local)

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