Jews steal arab organs!

[Slargos]

The charge is prisons selling the organs of executed prisoners.

Seems to me a world of difference between selling the organs of condemned prisoners and selling the organs of those killed fighting with Israeli troops.

For one, the army of Israel is a conscript army, in a very fractious democracy. How would a large-scale program of "harvesting" work - and not get noticed?

Second, the conditions for "harvesting" are likely not ideal when someone has been shot to death and left lying in the Judean sun for a while.

Contrast that with excecuted prisoners in a dictatorship.

Why would the program need to be large-scale?

Why wouldn't they simply use the scatter gun approach and eventually wind up with healthy organs. There's enough dead pallys to go around, after all.

Why do you assume we believe the ridiculous assertion that not all jews are able to keep up the Jewsquerade? 

"Fractitious" country indeed.

[Slargos]

That a jewish-swedish ambassador to Israel would haste to make an ass of herself in this question is certainly no big surprise.

The pertinence of appointing a jew as ambassador to Israel is an entirely different question.

Appointing a Jew. And a woman, too.

What were they thinking, eh?   

She was quite clearly not able to stay objective and do her job.

[Malthus]

Why would the program need to be large-scale?

Why wouldn't they simply use the scatter gun approach and eventually wind up with healthy organs. There's enough dead pallys to go around, after all.

Why do you assume we believe the ridiculous assertion that not all jews are able to keep up the Jewsquerade? 

"Fractitious" country indeed.

Because risking the near inevitability of a hideous outcry for the benefit of snatching the occasional organ makes no fucking sense, perhaps?

Apply my handy guide to conspiracy theories:

- Does it require the baddies to use an improbable method that requires them to be at the same time fiendishly clever and incredibly moronic, to achive a tiny insignificant "benefit"?

- Does it more or less replicate an already-existing conspiracy theory involving the very same group? 

- Is there some history of animosity which predisposes people to believing the most outlandish conspiracies about this particular group?

Answer "yes" to all three and, sir, it looks like a "conspiracy theory".

Of course Arabs (and I guess Swedes) are predisposed to believing such trash. 

[Malthus]

She was quite clearly not able to stay objective and do her job.

Or she was correct then and the Swedish gov't is wrong now.

[Sheilbh]

In a Free Country(tm), actions over libellous statements should be pursued through the courts and justice system, rather than by the government, no?

Yes, absolutely. 

Why is this article a blood libel but an article that would claim a non-Israeli army is doing that (if that article actually claimed that, but it didn't) would not be a blood libel, I assume?

No, because there's a specific cultural heritage of accusations that Jews kill non-Jews to sort of use or harvest the body.  Because of that it seems to feed from anti-semitic allegations against Jews as a religion or people, as much as it is of Israeli troops. 

It's for that reason I'm particularly concerned by an article about allegations that the Israeli army steals Arab organs.  If this was reported as a serious concern and not debunked in the article, or not as a feature on 'Middle Eastern conspiracies' or something similar then I'd consider it as irresponsible as a paper seriously reporting the story of William of Norwich without detailing that it's highly, highly unlikely.

Again, have we actually seen a direct quote showing condemnation or are we just taking it as a matter of faith that the article doesn't simply reference accusations by the families?

That doesn't matter.  Articles that simply print accusations without providing context or trying to further investigate those allegations are just engaged in irresponsible journalism.  This isn't, of course, an issue for government to be involved in.  It's one of editorial standards and sensitivity.

[Sheilbh]

According to 'diplomats' who spoke to a Spectator journalist the reason Israel condemned this article (why this article of all the unpleasant articles written about Israel?) is that the Swedes are EU Presidents at the minute.  The Israelis are expecting Obama's administration to have a Mitchell peace proposal in October that the Israelis won't like.  After such a public spat with the Swedes the Israelis will be able to downplay their (and by extension the EU's) support for the Mitchell proposal.

[Slargos]

Of course Arabs (and I guess Swedes) are predisposed to believing such trash. 

Have I succeeded in becoming such a heinous caricature that you completely miss it when I'm being facetious? 

Sadly, a lot of Swedes do buy into this sort of propaganda.

[Slargos]

She was quite clearly not able to stay objective and do her job.

Or she was correct then and the Swedish gov't is wrong now.

I think we've quite clearly established that it's not the job of the Swedish (or any) government to denounce individual journalists or papers for printing trash.

[Malthus]

According to 'diplomats' who spoke to a Spectator journalist the reason Israel condemned this article (why this article of all the unpleasant articles written about Israel?) is that the Swedes are EU Presidents at the minute.  The Israelis are expecting Obama's administration to have a Mitchell peace proposal in October that the Israelis won't like.  After such a public spat with the Swedes the Israelis will be able to downplay their (and by extension the EU's) support for the Mitchell proposal.

I rather suspect that this has nothing to do with it - the anger seems to be a genuine public reaction.

Rather it is the misfortune of having the Swedish gov't do an apparent double-take: condemning the article first and then retracting the condemnation, which drew the issue to public attention.

[Malthus]

I think we've quite clearly established that it's not the job of the Swedish (or any) government to denounce individual journalists or papers for printing trash.

That is neither here nor there: the issue is that the Swedes are apparently claiming they can't denounce something like this. If this isn't true, it makes them look very foolish to have denounced the article then retracted. Allegedly, the issue has gone to some sort of swedish constitutional committee ...

[Slargos]

I think we've quite clearly established that it's not the job of the Swedish (or any) government to denounce individual journalists or papers for printing trash.

That is neither here nor there: the issue is that the Swedes are apparently claiming they can't denounce something like this. If this isn't true, it makes them look very foolish to have denounced the article then retracted. Allegedly, the issue has gone to some sort of swedish constitutional committee ...

Yes, technically speaking the ambassador is the voice of the government. 

[Slargos]

 

Israelis are boycotting IKEA over this.

Congratulations on joining your semitic brothers in hypersensitive overreaction. 

[Valmy]

Israelis are boycotting IKEA over this.

Congratulations on joining your semitic brothers in hypersensitive overreaction. 

As I said: the ME insanity is slowly filtering into the Israeli mind.

[DisturbedPervert]

So really this article is just par for the course then.  Israel is being rather foolish to draw so much attention to it.

Maybe so, but when it's some other government it's much easier for them to ignore ridiculous organ theft conspiracies.  Given that there is a long history of accusing Jews of eating people I can understand why they'd take it more seriously.

I didn't read this story until after the Israeli government complained.  Was it in being picked up by other papers before that?

[Slargos]

Israelis are boycotting IKEA over this.

Congratulations on joining your semitic brothers in hypersensitive overreaction. 

As I said: the ME insanity is slowly filtering into the Israeli mind.

They should have moved to Madagascar instead, when they had the chance.