Israeli Response To Swedish Slander Blasted By Swedes--And Jews!

...Our research clarifies that in recent years part of the societal elites, particularly in Sweden and Norway, have been responsible for many pioneering efforts to demonize Israel. Prominent among the perpetrators are leading socialist and other leftist politicians, journalists, clergy, and employees of NGOs. This demonization is based on the classic motifs of anti-Semitism, which often also accompany its new mutation of anti-Israelism.
Behind the Humanitarian Mask: The Nordic Countries, Israel and the Jews,
by Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld (available free online)

Israel can never seem to catch a break.

Last week, the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, published an article accusing Israel Defense Forces soldiers of harvesting organs from Palestinians. Israel responded by demanding that the Swedish government condemn the disgusting article.

Jan Helin, editor-in-chief of the paper responded that he was disappointed in the Israeli government and that he was "saddened to see extreme rightist populists using this article as vulgar propaganda."--

"Rightist populists in Israel, especially Lieberman, took advantage of the publication for their own personal aims," he said. "The government of Israel is becoming more and more isolated from the world in its views. I think the official responses should be understood as related to the local and internal opinions in Israel, which are harming Israel."

Just to make point, Aftonbladet went ahead and published another article on the subject yesterday. Helin claimed that the intent was to ascertain the validity of the story:

Helin explained he had sent reporters to the West Bank to ask the family if it stood behind its story. "There were many rumors about the truth of the claims and we wanted to refute them," he said. "It may not prove anything factual, but the claims remain and this is why we published the story."

When asked why the paper did not verify the claims with the IDF Helin answered, "This is not a news report, but the opinion of a reporter who looked at the situation and held a debate on what he thought. Organ trafficking is a question he thought worth investigating. It may be considered a good or bad idea, but it's not anti-Semitic propaganda."

Helin is unclear:

• Is Aftonbladet in the habit of publishing unsubstantiated claims?
• How does going back to the Palestinian Arabs who made the claim constitute a refutation?
• Just what kind of debate did the reporter have--and with whom?
• Which is it: was the article just the reporter's opinion, or the result of investigation (without talking to the IDF?)?

Helin claims "I don't regret publishing the story, but I couldn't imagine the amount of publicity we'd get and it wasn't my intention."--well, at least I can belief the first half.

Jews in Sweden have also taken a stand in reaction to this story--against Israel:

[L]eaders of the Jewish community in Sweden believe that Israeli elements are responsible for inflaming the situation.

According to Lena Posner, head of the Jewish community in Stockholm and president of the Official Council of Jewish Communities in Sweden, "Israel caused all this mess."

Posner told Ynet, "The article was published here on Monday, but no one paid any attention to it. It wasn't a news report and was buried in the back pages of a tabloid. The writer is known to many of us as anti-Israel, and so it the entire paper. This is why no one took it seriously – until Israel got involved."

Now the focus has changed from the story itself to a debate on freedom of speech--instead of the content of that speech. With the self-righteous indignation that Sweden will be able to conjure up, Israel will lose this fight.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Aftonbladet and Sweden.