Swedish newspaper 'blood libel' sparks harsh condemnation

A leading Swedish newspaper reported this week that Israeli soldiers are abducting Palestinians to steal their organs, prompting furious condemnation and accusations of an anti-Semitic blood libel from the Foreign Ministry and a rival Swedish publication.

"They plunder the organs of our sons," read the headline in Sweden's largest daily newspaper, the left-leaning Aftonbladet, which devoted a double spread in its cultural section to the article.

The Foreign Ministry reacted angrily yesterday to the report. Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the newspaper's decision to publish the story is "a mark of disgrace" for the Swedish press.

"In a democratic country, there should be no place for dark blood libels out of the Middle Ages of this type," Palmor said. "This is an article that shames Swedish democracy and the entire Swedish press."

A Foreign Ministry official said that Israel's embassy in Stockholm has communicated a harsh condemnation to the Swedish government and the newspaper itself.

The report quotes Palestinians claiming that young men from the West Bank and Gaza Strip had been seized by the Israel Defense Forces, and their bodies returned to the families with missing organs.

"Our sons are used as involuntary organ donors,"author Donald Bostrom quoted Palestinians saying in his report.

The liberal Sydsvenskan - southern Sweden's major daily - had harsh criticism for the rival paper, calling it an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.

Barak Ravid, Anna Ekstrom and Mikael Tossavainen contributed to this report