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Nathalie Rothschild on a Swedish blood libel

by
Adam Chandler
December 03, 2012
This 2009 street art in Malmö says says “Semite, look here,” using Aftonbladet’s typeface, with a price tag of 53,000 Swedish kronor.(Mathias Lewin)
This 2009 street art in Malmö says says “Semite, look here,” using Aftonbladet’s typeface, with a price tag of 53,000 Swedish kronor.(Mathias Lewin)

In 2009, a blood libel spread through respected mainstream outlets of Swedish media alleging that the Israel Defense Forces had been harvesting the organs of Palestinian prisoners. The story eventually went away, but not before a crisis had emerged. As Nathalie Rothschild reports, the story has returned to Swedish media.

Now the respected Swedish culture and news magazine Filter has revived the controversy by weighing in on the debate, dedicating 17 pages in its most recent issue to a story purporting to vindicate the author of the Aftonbladet story, reporter Donald Boström, and his editor, Åsa Linderborg. In response, Linderborg and her colleagues have declared victory, publishing triumphant editorials scolding the Swedish press corps for its “betrayal” and arguing that Boström’s story helped put a stop to illegal organ trading in Israel.

Check out the rest here.

Adam Chandler was previously a staff writer at Tablet. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, Esquire, New York, and elsewhere. He tweets @allmychandler.