Wednesday 23 December 2009

STEALING BODY PARTS IS A LESSER CRIME THAN GENOCIDE IN GAZA


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December 22, 2009 at 10:57 am (From The Media, Gaza, Israel, Opinion, Palestine, War Crimes)

Image ‘Copyleft’ by Carlos Latuff


When it was first revealed that Israel was involved in harvesting body organs from dead Palestinians, it was denied….. with accusations of anti-Semitism, not with facts. But now, just a short time after the ‘expose’ in a Swedish newspaper Israeli doctors are admitting that it was true.


Could the revelations in the Goldstone Report have anything to do with this change of heart (pardon the pun)? Could Israel be using some sort of sick logic that this crime is not as bad as the continuing genocide in Gaza? Is this Israel’s sick way of shifting attention from what is happening? Is this a new method used to whitewash the war crimes that are still going on?


Reports are now being circulated about the events in the 90’s…. but let’s not lose focus on what is happening today. Below is one of the latest reports including a video….. followed by a local report.

Israel Admits Harvesting Organs from Dead Palestinians

The Israeli military has admitted harvesting organs from dead Palestinians after an interview conducted over the issue in 2000 was broadcast again.

Over the weekend, Israel’s Channel 2 TV broadcast an interview conducted in 2000 with the then-head of Israel’s Abu Kabir forensic institute, Dr. Jehuda Hiss who revealed that forensic pathologists harvested organs from dead bodies, including Palestinian corpses in the 1990s, the Associated Press reported.

“We started to harvest corneas … Whatever was done was highly informal. No permission was asked from the family,” said the doctor.
According to the report, the forensic specialists harvested skin, corneas, heart valves and bones from the bodies of Israeli soldiers, Israeli citizens, Palestinians and foreign workers, often without seeking permission from relatives.

Hiss also described how his doctors would cover up the removal of corneas from bodies.
“We’d glue the eyelid shut,” he said, adding that “We wouldn’t take corneas from families we knew would open the eyelids.”

In response to the broadcast, the Israeli military confirmed the report in a statement but said, “This activity ended a decade ago and does not happen any longer.”

The report was released after an article by Swedish journalist Donald Bostrom, accusing Israel of killing Palestinians in order to harvest their organs, caused a huge controversy.
The article, entitled They plunder the organs of our sons, published by the Swedish daily Aftonbladet, sparked outrage among Israeli officials, who called it “groundless,” “outrageous” and “anti-Semitic.”
Bostrom, however, said the purpose of his opinion article was to call for an investigation into numerous claims in the 1990s that such activity was going on.




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And the following from the local Palestinian Press, Al Quds

The Palestinian Authority demands international investigation into the theft of the Palestinian organs


The Palestinian Authority demands international investigation into the theft of the Palestinian organs 


The Palestinian Authority Minister of Health said that harvesting organs – such as corneas, bones and skin – from Palestinian martyrs, without the consent of their families, is a moral crime that contradicts to all international laws.

Minister Fathi Abu Mughli said, commenting on what was confirmed on Israeli television, that official Israeli bodies steal organs of Palestinian martyrs and implant them in the bodies of injured Israeli soldiers.

Abu Mughli said that the Israeli Ministry of Health’s response to the Yehuda Hiss interview is unacceptable. In a 57-minute interview conducted with Yehuda Hiss, the head of Israel’s forensic institute, Hiss spoke about how workers at the institute had harvested Israeli organs.

Dr. Abu Mughli emphasized that it is not allowed to take anything from the bodies of the dead without the written consent from their families, and in the presence of law representatives.

Abu Mughli described the response of Israeli hospitals – which commented on the case saying the subject is so old and there is no reason for talking about it now, as “shameless and immoral.”

He said that the Palestinian health ministry “strongly condemns the attack on the sanctity of the dead, dismembering their bodies and taking their organs without parental consent.  It calls upon the Israeli government to provide a response to this shameful act, and demands an immediate investigation on the subject.”
Abu Maghli asked the international community, humanitarian organizations and human rightists to have an international inquiry into the subject and to present to justice all those involved in assaulting the bodies of Palestinian martyrs and stealing parts of their bodies.

Source


 Uprooted Palestinian

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