FLAME Hotline: Sweden's blood libel accusation represents a new low, even by European standards

Dear Friend of FLAME:

The left-wing Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet published an article on August 17 by reporter Donald Bostrom alleging that Israeli soldiers were kidnapping and killing Palestinians in order to harvest organs to be used for transplanation. Bostrom freely admits that he has no evidence whatsoever to back up this blood libel, but indicated that it is up to Israelis to prove innocence in this matter. When the Swedish Ambassador to Israel rightfully condemned this hate speech hiding behind the curtain of "free speech," she was condemned back home in Sweden where some members of the government urged her recall.

The world's obsession with Israel as the embodiment of ultimate evil continues to grow, and now Aftonbladet takes the term blood libel to shameful heights. It is all one can do to try and respond to such utter fiction in a levelheaded manner. Israel gets such incredible negative press anyway that perhaps it is to be expected, but this story is despicable.

Naturally, Aftonbladet has a history of attacking Israel. In a January interview, the paper's culture editor, Asa Linderborg, was asked, "What do you wish for most in life right now?" Her response: "What a simple question. What I want is a free Palestine." Apparently she isn't concerned with Darfur, Rwanda, or Tibet; only "Palestine".

Why haven't Aftonbladet and other Western newspapers run some of the actual news in the Middle East?

- Hamas security forces recently killed 28 Palestinians. Apparently whenever Israel can't be blamed for killing Palestinians, then it isn't newsworthy.

- Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier being held by Hamas, isn't so much as heard from, yet Palestinian prisoners get cable TV, medical care, and family visits. They can even receive university degrees. In fact, Hamas celebrated the 100th degree received by a Hamas security prisoner. Perhaps Israel should begin treating Palestinian prisoners the same way Israeli prisoners are treated?

- Hamas stole three more UNRWA ambulances. As has happened in the past, Hamas can be expected to use these against Israel in a future terrorist attack. Yet it is Israel that gets blamed for stopping ambulances at checkpoints.

- There was more Holocaust denying by the Palestinians. Abd Al-Rahman Abbad, the (Fatah-backed) Secretary General of the Palestinian Organization of Clerics and Disseminators of Islam said on official (and Western-funded) Palestinian Authority TV: "Since it is known that in all of Europe there weren't 6 million Jews, the Holocaust should be seen as one more example of Jews' exaggeration of their sufferings."

Of course it's not just Aftonbladet ignoring the real news. Desiree Rover, a Dutch journalist, claimed that Jews are responsible for the recent outbreak of swine flu. Can we no longer use respectable and journalism even in the same paragraph? Apparently Rover didn't know that eight Israelis have also died in recent weeks from the swine flu. Or perhaps Israel simply doesn't know how to properly cause a global flu pandemic without infecting its own citizens?

It is beyond frustrating to see these public attacks on Israel, which of course are thinly veiled attacks on Jews themselves. The modern incarnation of an anti-Semite can then hide behind the excuse of simply criticizing Israel and not Jews.

Enough is enough. If those who choose to demonize Israel attempt to clear their own consciences with this joke of an excuse, they cannot expect us to stand idly by. We haven't, we won't, and we will never.

In his article on criticism of Israel below, Robert Fulford delves into the ritual that this criticism has become. It is a ritual that has become obscenely biased and one-sided. Lest we forget, anti-Semitism (and NOT just "anti-Zionism") is flourishing worldwide once again.

Best Regards,

Dave Nogradi
FLAME Hotline Contributor