Egyptian Doctors' Projection About Organ Thefts

Tamar Sternthal

CAMERA/Snapshots
02 December 09

Aftonbladet reporter Donald Bostrom has reportedly "rethought" his unfounded accusations of Israeli thefts of Palestinian organs, but Egyptian doctors are now repeating the libel.

The Palestinian Authority newspaper Al-Ayyam spoke with the head of the Egyptian Medical Syndicate, Dr. Hamdi Al-Sayed, who explained why Egypt temporarily barred two Israeli doctors from attending an international medical conference in Eygpt:

In response to the Israeli doctors' protest over Egyptian authorities not issuing them permits to enter Egypt for a medical conference, he said: 'We have no regard or respect for the Israeli doctors because the medical community has condemned them due to their participation in the torture of Palestinian prisoners.' He added: 'The Israeli Medical Association has acknowledged having participated in torture, noting that it had done so with the aim of protecting Israeli citizens.' He stated that the Israeli doctors are also guilty of stealing the organs of Palestinian prisoners, and that 'such people will not be permitted to take part in our medical activities." (Al-Ayyam, Nov. 27, 2009, translated by Palestinian Media Watch)

It appears that the Egyptian doctors are suffering from a psychological phenomenon known as projection. While accusations of Israeli transplant thefts have proven to be unfounded, the Kuwaiti Arab Times recently reported on Egyptian involvement in organ trafficking.

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Ghanem Family: We Never Said Son's Organs Were Stolen

Media Backspin/Commentary
25 August 09

This Swedish blood libel was further undermined when the family of Bilal Ahmed Ghanem said they never told any reporter that their son was missing organs.

Jerusalem Post reporter Khaled Abu Toameh tracked down the family:

The mother denied that she had told any foreign journalist that her son's organs had been stolen.

However, she said that now she does not rule out the possibility that Israel was harvesting organs of Palestinians . . . .

Jalal said that he and other villagers recall that a Swedish photographer was in the village during the funeral and that he managed to take a number of pictures of the body before the funeral. "That was the only time we saw this photographer," he recounted.

Ibrahim Ghanem, a relative of Bilal, said that the family never told the Swedish photographer that Israel had stolen organs from the dead man's body.

"Maybe the journalist reached that conclusion on the basis of the stitches he saw on the body," he said. "But as far as the family is concerned, we don't know if organs were removed from the body because we never performed our own autopsy. All we know is that Bilal's teeth were missing."

So much for Bostrom's previous excuse, which lame in its own right:

"I am just referring to what other people are telling me.

Aftonbladet editor Jan Helin also defended the article:

"The article poses a question – why has this body been autopsied when the cause of death is obvious? There I think Israeli authorities owe us an answer."

Since Aftonbladet was raising the accusations, the burden of proof is on the newspaper. Israel's not obligated to prove that something didn't happen, whether the accusations deal with body snatching, blowing up the World Trade Center, killing Arafat, poisoning the wells, tsunamis, etc. Stay tuned for an Aftonbladet exclusive on the Zionist tooth fairy taking Bilal Ghanem's teeth.