Riyad Mansour speaking to reporters on April 6, 2015. (UN/Loey Felipe)
The Palestinian Authority’s UN representative claimed Israel is harvesting the organs of dead Palestinians, leading Israel’s envoy to accuse the PA of spreading a blood libel.
In a letter to the UN secretary general, ambassador Riyad Mansour protested Israel’s “persistent aggression against the Palestinian people” over the past month of unrest and what he called its “insistence on use of violent force and oppressive measures.”
He then claimed that bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces “were returned with missing corneas and other organs, further confirming past reports about organ harvesting by the occupying power.”
In response, Israeli envoy Danny Danon called the organ harvesting accusation a “blood libel” and said the claim had shown the Palestinian ambassador’s true “anti-Semitic face.”
Envoy Danny Danon at the UN Security Council, October 22, 2015 (UN/Kim Haughton)
It was not the first time claims have been made that Israel harvested Palestinian organs. The allegation appeared in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet in 2009. It was also reported by Time magazine in 2014, though the publication later posted a retraction.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Editionby email and never miss our top stories
Israeli officials have vehemently denied the allegations, saying they were based on anti-Semitic tropes against Jews.
Advertisement
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
