Israel harvests organs of dead Palestinians

The Israeli Response

The claim is based on a stretch of a 2009 investigation taken out of context and is entirely propaganda.

Key Points

On November 27th 2023, American model Gigi Hadid shared a reel on her Instagram story that accuses Israel of harvesting the organs of dead Palestinians.

The video is a clip from an Israel Channel 2 investigation aired in 2009, which reports that in the 1990s, forensic specialists at Abu Kabir harvested skin, corneas, heart valves and bones from the bodies of Israeli soldiers, Israeli citizens, Palestinians and foreign workers, often without permission from relatives.

The video itself was slightly taken out of context, since in the broader context there was talk of various procedures used at the Institute of Forensic Medicine regarding the taking of organs from bodies without the knowledge or consent of the families of the deceased.

The Ministry of Health said at the time that the ministry was not aware of the phenomena described in the investigation and that over the years changes had been made in the management of the Institute of Forensic Medicine as well as in the various procedures.

Either way, this is an old, unverified clip taken out of context in order to serve as propaganda against Israel.

This is not the first instance of false accusations regarding organ harvesting in Israel:

In August 2009, the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet published a false story alleging that the IDF killed Palestinians to provide the Israeli medical establishment with organs.

Even the article itself admitted the story was unfounded.

Israeli, US and European representatives condemned the article as baseless and incendiary, noted the history of antisemitism and blood libels against Jews and asked the Swedish government to denounce the article. The government refused, citing freedom of the press and the Swedish constitution.

The Swedish ambassador to Israel also condemned the article as "shocking and appalling" and stated that freedom of the press carries responsibility, but the Swedish government distanced itself from her remarks.

There is no recent evidence that such a practice is occurring in Israel or in the current conflict.

Resources

↗NBC article about the investigation from 2009 ↗The Passion of Antisemitism ↗Accusation of Organ Theft Stokes Ire in Israel

Conclusions

The claim that Israel harvests the organs of dead Palestinians is based on an investigation conducted three decades ago, whose results were taken out of context and are regularly misinterpreted and used to demonize Israel. This story is known to resurface during times of conflict, with no relation to the current ongoing events and usually without providing the background and the full story behind it.

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#organharvesting
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