Donald Boström

Carl Donald Boström (born 30 May 1954 in Stockholm) is a Swedish journalist, photographer and writer. He is best known for his writings and photography relating to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He has also authored several cookbooks.

2009 article on organ trafficking

On 17 August 2009 the tabloid Aftonbladet published an article by Boström, ”Våra söner plundras på sina organ” ("Our sons are plundered of their organs"),^[1] retelling rumors that Israel where stealing organs from Palestinians that died in custody.^[2][3] Boström mentioned that the autopsies where performed at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute,^[1] an institute whose chief pathologist, Yehuda Hiss, admitted to organ theft in 2005 from 125 bodies.^[4] As a background Boström mentioned the charges against Levy Izhak Rosenbaum of Brooklyn, arrested as part of Operation Bid Rig for conspiring to arrange the sale of an Israeli citizen's kidney for $160,000. The article prompted outrage in Israel, with accusations that the claims were anti-Semitic and represented a Blood libel against Jews,^[5][6] and set off a diplomatic row between the Israeli and Swedish governments.

According to Yossi Klein Halevi, writing in the The New Republic, Donald Boström would have readily admitted that he has no proof the accusations are true and the Palestinians he quoted in his article would have since denied making those accusations.^[7]

Matthew Cassel wrote on his part in the pro-Palestinian Electronic Intifada that "Baseless organ theft accusations are a propaganda gift for Israel, and deflect attention from its well-documented war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip".^[8]

Lena Posner-Korosi, leader of Sweden's Jewish community, criticized Israel's official response to this article, stating in an interview with the Israeli army radio that the Israeli reaction and media outrage had provided the claims with much more exposure than they would have had otherwise, and blown the story out of proportion ^[9]

Boström never claimed to have proven anything in his article.^[10] In an interview with Haaretz on November 4, 2009, Bostrom stated "I have no proof the IDF harvests Palestinians' organs." ^[11]

Financing

Israeli daily Ma'ariv reported that Bostrom's 2001 book Inshallah, which deals with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and reportedly included the allegations of organ harvesting relating to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, was financed - among other bodies - by the Swedish Foreign Ministry.^[9]

Boström received the 2007 KW Gullers stipendium (scholarship) from the Nordic Museum in honor of the late Swedish photographer K.W. Gullers.^[12]

Works

• Nilsson, Bengt (1990). Tårgas & oliver. Stockholm: Arbetarnas bildningsförbund  (photographer)
• Johansson, Agneta (1993). Faces of Jerusalem : Ansikten i Jerusalem. Örebro: Libris. ISBN 91-7194-961-5  (photographer)
• Boström, Donald; Boström, Lars (2001). Inshallah : konflikten mellan Israel och Palestina. Stockholm: Ordfront. ISBN 91-7324-860-6  (also photographer and editor)
• Boström, Donald; Hasselbohm, Anders (2003). Mat för gudar : [libanesisk matkultur från Beirut Café]. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. ISBN 91-46-20341-9  (also photographer and editor)
• Kronér, Lasse (2003). Boström, Donald. ed. Åttio väldigt goda mackor. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. ISBN 91-46-20294-3 
• Boström, Donald (2005). Snabb sund mat : enkla vardagsrecept med Kocklandslaget. Prisma: Stockholm. ISBN 91-518-4452-4  (also editor)
• Albons, Birgitta (2005). Muren. Stockholm: Leopard. ISBN 91-7343-093-5  (photographer)
• Boström, Donald, ed (2007). Salam : om krig, fred och islam. Malmö: Arena. ISBN 978-91-7843-276-9 

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Boström, Donald (2009-08-17). "Våra söner plundras på sina organ". Aftonbladet. http://www.aftonbladet.se/kultur/article5652583.ab. Retrieved 2009-08-26. 
2. ^ "Israel-Sweden row over media report" Al-Jazeera August 24, 2009
3. ^ "Article about organ harvesting sparks Israel-Sweden tiff" Los Angeles Times August 24, 2009
4. ^ Ezra HaLevi. Infamous Chief Pathologist to Once Again Evade Punishment, 09/26/05.
5. ^ "Top Sweden newspaper says IDF kills Palestinians for their organs". Haaretz. 2009-08-18. http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1108384.html. Retrieved 2009-08-26. 
6. ^ "Swedish daily hits back at critics of IDF organ harvest story". Haaretz. 2009-08-20. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1108604.html. Retrieved 2009-08-26. 
7. ^ Yossi Klein Halevi (2009-08-27). "Incitement to Murder". The New Republic. http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=c51177ee-8329-4abc-b927-acf45f19054c. Retrieved 2009-08-27. 
8. ^ Matthew Cassel (2009-08-24). "Baseless organ theft accusations will not bring Israel to justice.". Electronic Intifada. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10730.shtml. Retrieved 2009-08-27. 
9. ^ ^{a b} "'Those who don't condemn Swedish story may not be welcome'". Jerusalem Post. 2009-08-23. http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1249418673856&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull. Retrieved 2009-08-27. 
10. ^ "Israel claims Swedish press committing 'blood libel' over organ theft allegations" Menassat August 21, 2009
11. ^ Izikovich, Gili (2009-11-02). "'I have no proof the IDF harvests Palestinians' organs'". Haaretz. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1125352.html. Retrieved 2009-11-08. 
12. ^ "Gullersstipendiat 2007: Donald Boström" (in Swedish). Nordic Museum. http://gullers.nordiskamuseet.se/stipendiater/2007/donald_bostrom.html. Retrieved 21 August 2009.