E-Mail to an Editor of Aftonbladet

Below is my e-mail to Johan Edling, an editor of Aftonbladet, which published the heinous, anti-Semitic story that accused Israeli soldiers of murdering Palestinians and harvesting their organs. Will I receive a response from Edling? Again, I'm not holding my breath.

Dear Mr. Edling,

The absurdity of Aftonbladet's story alleging that Israeli soldiers killed Palestinians in 1992 in order to harvest their organs was highlighted yesterday in The New York Times. See the the last paragraph below from:

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/why-the-israeli-organ-harvesting-story-is-probably-false/?pagemode=print

I believe in "freedom of expression", and Aftonbladet is free to publish what it wishes, but you need also recognize that this was an instance of vile anti-Semitism without any factual basis whatsoever, which will only perpetuate hatred and violence.

Yours sincerely,
Adv. Jeffrey Grossman
Caesarea, Israel


August 25, 2009, 10:03 am
Why the Israeli Organ-Harvesting Story Is Probably False
By Stephen J. Dubner

A strange story has broken out in Sweden and Israel, with an article in Aftonbladet, a Swedish newspaper, by a journalist named Donald Boström.

According to The Times, Boström’s article “accuses the Israeli Army of harvesting organs from Palestinians wounded or killed by soldiers.” This claim is linked to the charges of black-market organ trafficking by Levy-Izhak Rosenbaum, one of the flock of characters recently arrested in a corruption and money-laundering racket that revolved around New Jersey politicians.

. . . .

The Times article asserts that Boström’s article “was based on accusations Mr. Bostrom heard from Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza in the 1990’s, and which he published in a book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2001.”

That would certainly give one pause as to the veracity of the charge. This isn’t to say that all rumors are untrue, but there is perhaps no easier trap for a journalist to fall into than to listen to the harshest accusations of one group of people that is at war with another.

But there is probably a better reason to discount the accusation.

Al Roth, the Harvard economist whose work on matched-pair organ donations has started to transform the organ-transplantation scenario, told me he found the accusation unbelievable because of the logistics of organ harvesting itself. “Organs don’t last very long and have to be matched rather particularly,” he said, “so it would be hard to take them on spec for an international market. So I think black market organs must mostly be from live donors. Live donors can take blood tests well in advance and travel to where the patient is. Deceased organs have to be put on ice, and the clock starts ticking immediately and fast.”

. . . .