Wednesday, August 19, 2009
So says the JPost in this article about the fallout from Aftonbladet's Donald Boström's now notorious and enthusiastic blood libel smear: Swedish writer 'not sure' story's true
..."I have a personal opinion, it concerns me that it's true," Donald Bostrom, who penned the story, told Israel Radio en route to an emergency meeting at the editorial offices Aftonbladet, presumably to discuss the aftermath of the report.
"I was [present] during the interview that night, I was a witness. It concerns me to the extent that I want it to be investigated," Bostrom told the station. "But whether it's true or not - I have no idea, I have no clue."...
...Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon responded to the report by saying: "This is a blood libel and the worst type of anti-Semitism."
Ayalon called on the Swedish government to condemn these accusations and said Israel "sees a correlation between the Swedish government's public statements, which are extremely critical of Israel, and anti-Semitism in the press."
Sweden currently holds the rotating EU presidency, and in recent months there has been some diplomatic tensions between the two countries...
...The Swedish Embassy issued a statement Wednesday distancing itself from the report.
"The article in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet is as shocking and appalling to us Swedes as it is to Israeli citizens. We share the dismay expressed by Israeli government representatives, media and the Israeli public. This embassy cannot but clearly distance itself from it," the statement said.
It continued its condemnation of the paper by saying, "Freedom of the press and freedom of expression are freedoms which carry a certain responsibility. It falls on the editor-in-chief of any given newspaper."...
As always, Barry Rubin has an excellent post on this: Stop the Presses: Blood Libel Goes Mainstream: Swedish Newspaper Proves Antisemitism Is Anti-Zionism Is Now Acceptable
Also see Tundra Tabloids for some of the Swedish counter-reaction: Swedish Liberal-Right Outraged Over Aftonbladet's Jewish Blood Libel Article.......
I continue to be shocked and nauseated by this story.
It's one thing for irresponsible websites to post unspeakable and nauseating and baseless accusations and distortions of history.
That is bad enough.
It's also become more and more widespread over the past few years, to the point where far left and neonazi posters have overlapped.
Then, we started to see posts accusing Jews and Israel of all sorts of conspiracies and gruesome misdeeds in blogposts on mainstream papers. This included a piece on the Washington Post's religion blog by Gandhi, no less, which was so offensive the paper distanced itself. We witnessed the publication of Walt/Mearscheimer's conspiracy theory accusing Jews (ie "The Israel Lobby") of suppressing the publication of conspiracy theories (ie Criticism of Israel)(rolls eyes) and also of Undue Influence and Controlling America.
Now this? This is straight up medieval blood libel in the mainstream press.
I suppose if we look at the widely published rumors about Jenin we shouldn't be too surprised.
The fact is, Israel has been accused of horrendous misdeeds in the press before now. Apologies and retractions then appear, sheepishly, far back in the paper in 2 point type, if they appear at all.
What's the difference between accusing IDF of stealing organs and accusing Jews of drinking Christian blood? None that I can tell.
It's not just the bostrom "progressive", it's the "progressive" editors and higher ups that "vet" the articles that are printed who are guilty of slander.
Don't newspapers, even Swedish newspapers, have a responsibility to FACT CHECK?
The bostrom article would have fit in "der sturmer".