Earlier this month, Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet ran a story, entitled “They plunder the organs of our sons,” claiming that during Israel’s incursion into Gaza earlier this year, the Israeli army stole organs from Palestinians who died while in Israeli custody.
Recently, however, it appears that these specific allegations may be inaccurate. The brother of Bilal Ahmed Ghanem, the Palestinian featured in the photograph accompanied by the article, said that, “I don’t know if this is true, we don’t have any evidence to support this.” Moreover, the editor of the newspaper recently said the paper had no evidence that the Israeli army stole any organs, though the article “raises a few questions.”
This is by no means the first allegation of Israeli organ theft, however. Charges of organ theft have been circulating for years. In 2001, for instance, Israeli newspaper Ha’ir ran a 12-page report that revealed that the Israel Institute for Forensic Medicine allowed medical students to practice on bodies and perform transplants without permission from the deceased or their families.
One person not given a choice was Alastair Sinclair, a Scottish tourist who allegedly hung himself in an Israeli jail. Following a request for an autopsy by Sinclair’s family, University of Glasgow pathologists found that his body had been retuned to Scotland without a heart. Moreover, the bone needed to confirm that he hung himself was missing. Allegations consequently arose that rather than hanging himself, Sinclair was murdered for organ harvesting.
A year later, in 2002, international media reported that members of the same institute admitted to stealing organs from three Palestinian teenagers killed by the Israeli army. Responding to the allegations, the Israeli Minister of Health said he could not deny that the organs of Palestinian youth were taken for scientific research or transplants.
Such cases of theft seem to be sanctioned by Israeli law. According to the Israeli Anatomy and Pathology Law (1953), “using part of a corpse when it is needed to save the life of a person” is legal even without consent. In one case, for example, the heart, liver, lungs and kidneys were taken from the corpse of a Beersheba resident and transplanted into five Israeli patients, without the consent of the donor’s family. The press called the undertaking “organ robbery.”
These allegations, and several others, raise serious questions over Israel’s likely practice of stealing organs. While Aftonbladet may not posses definitive evidence of organ theft, this does not rule out the possibility. Nor does their lack of evidence on this particular case rule out previous, well-documented cases.
