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Europe
Sweden's refusal to condemn 'organ libel' is bogus
2009-08-30
Sweden's foreign minister, Carl Bildt, has refused to condemn a "blood libel" published by one of Sweden's leading newspapers, Aftonbladet. The article outrageously claims that Jewish soldiers in Israel killed Palestinians to harvest their organs.

According to the New York Times, the writer of the article, Donald Bostrom, has acknowledged that "he has no idea whether the accusations are true." Yet a widely-read Swedish newspaper was prepared to publish this undocumented and highly volatile accusation without requiring its author to present any credible evidence.
Not merely prepared, but eagerly and unblushingly did so.
Not only has foreign minister Bildt refused to issue to a personal condemnation of the current "organ libel," his foreign ministry explicitly disavowed the denunciation issued by Sweden's Ambassador to Israel, who had called the article "shocking and appalling."

In a self-righteous statement, Mr. Bildt claimed that condemnation of the article would be inappropriate because freedom of expression is a part of the Swedish Constitution.

This is a bogus and ignorant argument, as anyone who understands freedom of speech will attest. I have devoted much of my life to defending freedom of speech, and consider myself something of an expert on the matter. Nobody is talking about censoring the Swedish press or imprisoning the writer of the absurd article.

What we are talking about is expanding the marketplace of ideas to include a completely warranted condemnation of sloppy journalism
Calling it sloppy journalism is entirely too kind. I'd call it pseudo-journalistic propaganda, myself...
and outrageous accusations that foment anti-Semitism in Sweden, which is already on the rise. Freedom of speech is based on an open and vibrant marketplace of ideas. No journalist is immune from criticism for bigotry and defamation, even from high ranking government officials.

Recall that virtually every government official in Europe went out of their way to condemn the perfectly innocent cartoons that offended some Muslims by portraying Mohammed. (More recently, the Yale Press withdrew these cartoons and other classic art depicting Mohammed out of fear of violent reaction.)
Muslims murder "offenders", Jews try to reason with their enemies.
Without getting into the business of comparative offensiveness, no reasonable person could argue that depicting a long-dead religious figure comes anywhere close to falsely accusing contemporary Jews of murdering innocent Palestinians to steal their organs.

The reality is that the Swedish government, long known for its cowardice, simply does not want to get into a fight with the Muslim world, much like it didn't want to get into a fight with the Nazis during the Second World War.

Sweden is perfectly willing to sell out the Jews in the name of neutrality, or in this case, in the false name of freedom of expression. Its silence is beneath contempt.
Next step: a Muslim child disappears, and later fond dead---much later a police investigation discovers that her family is responsible. Meanwhile Muslims, and quite a few native Swedes, vent their "righteous wrath" on the neares Jewish Community---while the Swedish police watch from sidelines
Everyone no doubt would be piously sorry after about the injuries, destruction and deaths that happened -- somehow -- to the innocent Jewish victims of the pogrom. But really, you know, the rampagers' anger is understandable under the circumstances.
Posted by:g(r)omgoru

#5  Link?
Posted by: Large Snerong7311   2009-08-30 18:41  

#4  The Swedes will serve their new masters soon enough.
Posted by: ed   2009-08-30 12:26  

#3  Apparently quite some time ago, Nimble. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2009-08-30 12:21  

#2  Did they lose the genes of Gustuvas Adolphus somewhere along the way?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble   2009-08-30 11:58  

#1  Yet a widely-read Swedish newspaper was prepared to publish this undocumented and highly volatile accusation without requiring its author to present any credible evidence.

A producer's job awaits at CBS for such creative skills.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2009-08-30 11:23  

00:01