More Euro Anti Semitism and a living example of why Jews need their own state

I'm not a racist. Jag är inte antisemit. I'm not anti-Semite. Aftonbladet är inte en antisemitisk tidning. Aftonbladet is not an anti-Semitic newspaper. Tvärtom tar vi öppet ställning emot främlingsfientlighet. On the contrary, we openly stand against xenophobia.

In other words, some of his best friends are Jews.

This is the sort of politically-correct "polite" anti Semitism that characterized German intellectuals back in the '30s and '40s. One doesn't hate Jews. That would be vulgar and low class. Not our sort of people at all. But, still... Jews are responsible for heinous crimes, etc etc. and are in control of the media, government, finance, etc etc. ... That's political analysis, not racist hatred. Therefore, it's protected speech. Therefore any criticism of this sort of political analysis is an attack on free speech. So, let's hate the Jews all that much more--they want to limit intellectuals' right to freedom of expression.

The ultimate purpose of such libels is to delegitimize the Jewish people and to exculpate the violence committed against them.

This is why they are anti Semitic. It's precisely the political analysis that puts it in that category. It may surprise people, but it's entirely possible for one to hold such beliefs against Jews and Israel and still like and respect individual Jews in one's own life. Nazi Germany was replete with such people. Read Victor Klemperer's Language of the Third Reich for as many examples as you need.

The following is the main point. It applies beyond the Swedish intellectual establishment. Anything even resembling this--but not even approaching the crudity of the organ-harvesting libel--would be cause for heads rolling if it was about any other group besides Jews (or perhaps Americans).

What does it say about a country when one of its leading newspapers deems a wild blood libel against Israel and Jews worthy of publication? And what it does it say about a government and its opposition when they view efforts to condemn this vicious lie as itself worthy of condemnation? What must be understood is that this episode would not be possible outside the context of anti-Israel propaganda that permeates Europe.

Via Commentary, there's more on the Swedish report of IDF Palestinian-organ-harvesting. At Commentary, they call it a "blood libel" because of the European tradition of accusing Jews of eating babies, etc etc during the Middle Ages (and later) so as to incite pograms (i.e., holy war/Crusades)against them. Back then, Jews were accused of poisoning the wells, causing the plague, etc etc.

Earlier this week, the Jerusalem Post reported that the popular Swedish daily tabloid Aftonbladet had published a story alleging that Israeli soldiers were not only killing Palestinians but also harvesting their organs for use by sick Jews. The piece by one Donald Bostrom repeated some wild and unsubstantiated tales of atrocities told by Palestinians and then attempted to connect them with a recent story of how some Jews in America were behind the illegal trafficking of organs.

According to Bostrom:

We know that the need for organs in Israel is large, that an extensive illegal organ moving is ongoing and has been for a long time, that it is done with the blessing of the authorities, the senior doctor at the major hospital is involved, as well as officials at various levels. And we know that the Palestinian young men disappeared, they were back five days later in secrecy at night, sewn up.

This is nothing but a modern version of medieval Jewish blood-libel myths. Whereas in the past, the object of these hate-inspired canards were helpless Diaspora Jewish communities, now it’s the state of Israel. Though Bostrom disingenuously claimed that he was not promoting the tale but merely repeating what others had told him, the ultimate purpose of such libels is to delegitimize the Jewish people and to exculpate the violence committed against them.