Posted on 01/23/2024 7:25:31 AM PST by SJackson
One of the preposterous charges made against Israel by the Palestinians is that the Jewish state “harvests the organs” from dead Palestinians. This is a variant on the medieval blood libel that accused Jews of using the blood of Christian children in making matzos. Think of Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln, and William of Norwich — two children whose deaths were falsely attributed to Jews wanting to use their blood, which led to pogroms being unleashed against local Jewry in medieval England. But the Palestinian charge was apparently not preposterous enough for the Washington Post, which reported the charge as if it could possibly true, instead of holding it up as an absurd antisemitic libel.
Robert Spencer wrote about this briefly here, and more on the Washington Post’s reporting on the “IDF harvests Palestinian Organs” story can be found here: “Washington Post Reprints Depraved Claim that Israel Steals Palestinian Organs,” by Sean Durns, Algemeiner, January 10, 2024:
…The Washington Post prides itself on “courageous journalism” and speaking “truth to power,” but a recent report promoted an age-old antisemitic canard. The Dec. 26, 2023, dispatch, “The World Wants a Respite for Gaza. Israel Vows to Keep on Fighting,” regurgitated the claim that Jews steal organs of non-Jews.
As CAMERA’s Ricki Hollander has documented, such “blood libels and conspiracy theories have played a tragic role in Jewish history” and are responsible for inciting anti-Jewish violence. And now you can find them printed in the pages of The Washington Post.
“Palestinian officials,” the Post wrote, “said Tuesday that Israel had returned the bodies of 80 people it had held during the Gaza War via the Karem Shalom border crossing. The Hamas-run government media office said Israel had not identified the bodies or said where they had been taken from. They had been ‘mutilated,’ the media office said in a statement, and there were ‘clear’ indications that organs had been ‘stolen’ from the corpses.”
“The claims,” the Post added, “could not be independently verified.”…
The Post said the organ-harvesting charge “could not be independently verified.” Was that really enough? The Post ought to have written the following: “The charge that the IDF has ‘stolen’ organs from the corpses of Palestinians harks back to the medieval libels accusing Jews of killing Christian children and using their blood to make matzos, which led to pogroms against Jews. There has never been a proven case of organ-harvesting by the IDF in the entire history of Israel. Furthermore, it would have made no sense for the IDF to have handed over corpses from which organs had been removed. Had there been such harvesting of organs, the corpses would never have been turned over.”
The Post, like many other media outlets, has consistently repeated the casualty figures put out by Hamas, without questioning their accuracy. For example, we are now told by the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health that there have been 23,000 Gazans killed in the war so far, “most of them women and children.” How do we know that the figure provided by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health is accurate? The answer is: we have no way of knowing. Nor do we know if “most of those killed” were in fact women and children. But we do know one thing: Hamas routinely exaggerates the numbers of Palestinian civilians who are killed.
Two examples of such wild exaggeration should suffice. In the so-called “Jenin massacre” in 2002, Hamas claimed that the IDF had killed “500 civilians.” It later turned out, as confirmed by American and other Western intelligence agencies, that there had been 52 Palestinians, not 500, killed, and that of the 52 at least 45 were terrorists. And 23 Israeli soldiers died in that brutal fight that was very far from being a “massacre of Palestinians.”
A second example of Hamas’ lies dates from October 17, when there was an explosion near the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza. Hamas announced that an Israeli airstrike had hit the hospital, killing 500 civilians. The real story soon came out: instead of an Israeli airstrike, a rocket launched from Gaza by Palestinian Islamic Jihad had misfired, landing not on the hospital, but on the parking lot next to the hospital. And not 500, but between 10 and 50 civilians were killed. American intelligence confirmed this version. But even today, Hamas continues to insist that there were “500 civilians” killed in an Israeli airstrike on the hospital. To repeat: it was not an Israeli airstrike by a misfired rocket launched by Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It did not land on the hospital but in a parking lot. It did not kill 500, but between 10 and 50 civilians.
Of course, the biggest lie from Hamas is the continued denial that the group committed any atrocities on October 7; for Hamas wants us still to believe that its operatives fought only IDF soldiers. It can’t, after all, own up to being responsible for the beheading of babies, the burning alive of children, the gang-rape, torture, and murder of girls, the slicing off of women’s breasts, the gouging out of eyes and cutting off of genitalia from men, the children murdered in front of their parents, and the parents in front of their children. None of that happened in Hamas’ version, in which those of its operatives who took part in the “resistance” that day astonished the world by their bravery in taking on, and besting, the mighty IDF.
But by peddling a medieval blood libel, the Post has crossed the Rubicon, illustrating that, much like Hamas, there is seemingly no depth to their actions and capriciousness.
The Post’s decision to willingly reprint Hamas propaganda runs counter to how the newspaper often treats statements by Israel Defense Force officials. As CAMERA has highlighted, the IDF is often treated with not-so-thinly veiled suspicion, and its assertions are often presented with distrust, even contempt. Hamas, however, gets a pass….
For example, when the IDF was still investigating the death of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, the Post ignored that investigation and reported, as fact, what one of its journalists, Rana Ayyub, tweeted: “This is a murder in cold blood by Israel. Shireen was one of those journalists who documented the everyday brutality by the Israeli forces for the world, a generation of viewers grew up watching her dogged reporting from Palestine. Will the world speak up?”
Ayyub’s claim was promptly retweeted by Post columnist Karen Attiah. This led an independent journalist, Armin Rosen, to comment that “two Washington Post staffers [were] spreading what amounts to a conspiracy theory before any of the most relevant facts are in.”
The Washington Post should now publish a piece on the persistence of the “blood libel” against Jews, from medieval times to the latest baseless claim by Hamas that the IDF “harvested organs” from dead Palestinians. It should clearly state that there is absolutely no evidence to support that claim, instead of writing that “the claims could not be independently verified.” That suggests that those claims might indeed be valid.
But given the heavy representation of Palestinian and other Arab journalists on its staff, and the paper’s long record of anti-Israel animus, it is likely to leave that claim about Israel harvesting the organs of dead Palestinians out there in the ether, not “independently verified” but also not denounced, as it ought to be by the Post, as dangerous nonsense that harks back to the antisemitic blood libels of the past. The Washington Post’s coverage of Israel and the Palestinians has been shameful for a long time, but its report on the claim by Hamas that Israel has been harvesting organs of dead Palestinians takes the outrage to a whole new level of malice.
Like anyone would want origins from a raghead it would probably make you start chopping up babies
Shame on the already disreputable Washington Post. The leftist mind seems to have no sense of honor or decency.
Does anyone read the Post?
Actually not so far fetched. The director of the Israeli skin bank basically said this on video:
https://nitter.net/RyLiberty/status/1728624949710225759#m
I don’t believe the Israelis are interested in walking around with Palestinian parts inside of them. That’s only something that Ivy Leaguers would do.
It's rather difficult to read the Post while using it to wipe your behind. That's all the Post is good for.
The signal accomplishment of current journalism is to eschew any and all critical thinking and to mindlessly report what pabulum they are handed. There is no right or wrong or context or incredulity. All is the Story and the Story is the All.
I am reminded of Newt upbraiding a clueless reporter on TV in the immediate same day aftermath of 9/11/2001. After being asked to opine on some trivial development, Newt yells, “This is not a ‘Story’ . . . You groveling clod, it’s an atrocity and act of war committed against us!”
Well that last bit is what I was yelling at the boob tube.
All they care about is the approval of their fellow story mongers. People like Ernie Pyle and Bill Mauldin are galaxies beyond their ken.
The Washington Post hasn't been a respectable paper since they made the decision to be stenographers for disgruntled 'intelligence' agents. This is just one more step to the bottom...
Ping
Whenever there are no names to the accusations, you can bet that it is an outright lie.
The continued downward spiral of the Washington ComPost puzzles business analysts.
This is Hamas propaganda — just look at it, and at the other vile stuff this RyLiberty tweets.
In her book “On Their Dead Bodies,” Dr. Meira Weiss, the Israeli doctor and anthropology expert, stated the harvesting of the organs and mentioned that in the period between 1996 and 2002, Dr. Weiss was at the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv to do scientific research, and there she saw how the organs were getting stolen, especially from Palestinian corpses.
She said, “During my time at the institute, I witnessed how they would ‘take’ organs from a Palestinian body and not ‘take’ anything from the soldiers in return.” She added, “They would take corneas, skin, and heart valves, while noting that non-professionals would not notice the absence of these organs as they would place something plastic in place of the corneas and ‘take’ the skin from the back so that the family wouldn’t see it. In addition, the bodies of detained martyrs are used in medical colleges at Israeli universities for research purposes.” Weiss confirmed that “in the first Intifada, the army effectively allowed the institute to extract organs from Palestinians under a military procedure that required the autopsy of a Palestinian prisoner. The autopsy procedure was accompanied by organ removal, which was used by the Israeli Skin Bank established in 1985 to treat burns suffered by Israeli soldiers. This was after the Chief Rabbinate Council issued a ruling legitimizing it, which led to saving the lives of many Israelis who were injured during attacks on Palestinian citizens, continuous assaults, and wars — at the expense of Palestinian martyrs, according to specialized Israeli medical sources for burn treatment.”
Weiss also confirms the use of organs stolen by other organ banks in the Israeli occupation state for transplantation, research, and medical education. She added that many institute workers discussed during the interviews conducted by Weiss the period of the first Intifada, from 1987 to 1993, describing it as “good days” when organs were harvested permanently and freely, compared to any other period.
The Israeli Ministry of Health sent a written response to Al Jazeera, stating that “it used to happen.” However, today they claim that organs are taken according to the law and with prior consent, without specifying which entity issues the approvals: whether it is the courts in the occupation state, its army, or its administrative and political institutions. On November 23, 2015, the Israeli Channel 2 aired an investigative report revealing that the Israeli Institute of Forensic Medicine was involved in stealing organs from the bodies of Palestinian martyrs detained by the Israeli occupation. The investigation included testimonies from former head of the Israeli Institute of Forensic Medicine, Yehuda Hiss, acknowledging that human organs, tissues, and skin were taken from the bodies of Palestinian martyrs without the knowledge or consent of their families.
The issue in the real, not anti Israel, world is opt-in/opt-out donor policies. Up to about 20 years ago Israel was an opt-out country. If you don't want to donate you or your survivors have to opt out, otherwise you're a donor. Don't know if that was law or custom, many countries don't address the issue. At that time organs were taken from palestinians, Israelis, even IDF members without permission That's how it's done in opt-out countries. Not just palestinians as some articles suggest, everyone. The law was changed to opt-in about 20 years ago, so now permission is required.
A couple of links if you're interested in the topic. You can find others.
Presumed vs Expressed Consent in the US and Internationally
Assessing Global Organ Donation Policies: Opt-In vs Opt-Out
Comparison of organ donation and transplantation rates between opt-out and opt-in systems
While explaining the concept of opt-in/opt-out, the articles you cited don’t specifically mention Israel, or Israel’s current policies regarding organ harvesting.
In 2008 Israel enacted its Organ Transplant Law. It is clear that the law was written for the benefit of Israeli citizens - people with the complete rights of full citizenship. There is no indication that anything has changed for non-Israeli citizens, or for non-Israeli citizens during wartime. It appears that the sovereign control which Israel exerts over Palestinian bodies, alive or dead - is still legitimate.
There is a lot real-life testimony which includes Israel’s habit of holding on to the bodies of dead Palestinians for extended periods of time, as well as the desecration of cemeteries and graves.
https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/5982/Int%E2%80%99l-committee-must-investigate-Israel%E2%80%99s-holding-of-dead-bodies-in-Gaza (November 26, 2023)
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/supreme-court-allows-israel-withhold-bodies-palestinians (9 September 2019)
Supreme Court allows Israel to continue holding bodies of killed Palestinians
Court approves longstanding policy of retaining bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces by 4-3 majority
For decades, Israel has been following a policy of not releasing the bodies of Palestinians killed by its military to their families.
…Adalah said the lawyers of families of the deceased Palestinians made the argument that holding the bodies violates both international law and Israeli law, which does not permit the military to keep bodies and use them as leverage.
…More than 250 bodies are currently being held at Israeli burial sites and morgues known by Palestinians as "cemeteries of numbers", named after the numbering system that replaces names on graves.
The ruling will be applied on all Palestinians buried in the “cemeteries of numbers” and the ones held in refrigerators since 2015, the last of whom is Bassam al-Sayeh who died Sunday in an Israeli prison.
In 2016, Israeli authorities started promoting the policy as a negotiation tool to return Israeli soldiers detained by Palestinians. At the time, the Israeli military asked for secret meetings with the courts and publicly stated that the detention of the bodies is a pressure card on Gaza.
Israel is the only country in the world currently implementing a policy of confiscation of remains, according to Jerusalem Legal Aid Center (JLAC) and Adalah. It relies on regulations dating back to 1945, during the British Mandate, to give grounds for its policy.
What do you get when you cross a NAZI with a Communist?
A DEMOCRAT!!
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