# Blood Libel

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-libel/522020>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [December 21, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-libel/522020 "2009-12-21T02:09:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 128

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**Author:** ![leander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bcef8e/32.png) [@leander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leander)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-libel/522020/128 "2010-01-02T22:40:13Z")

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> [@leander](#):
>
> This is incorrect. Please read the article again.

> [@tomndebb](#):
>
> No. You need to indicate where in the article there is an assertion that this was an action undertaken by the government. We’re over a hundred posts into the thread where it has already been established that it was a rogue operation. If you want to claim that the “article” contradicts that, then you need to quote the relevant passage.

People are suggesting that it was one single rogue doctor that was doing this. You use the word “operation” so presumably you understand the difference.

Here are a few quotes from the article:

> [@](#):
>
> Israel has admitted \*\*pathologists \*\*harvested organs from dead Palestinians, and others, without the consent of their families – a practice it said ended in the 1990s – it emerged at the weekend
> 
> \<snip\>
> 
> Channel 2 TV reported that in the 1990s, \*\*specialists \*\*at Abu Kabir harvested skin, corneas, heart valves and bones from the bodies of Israeli soldiers, Israeli citizens, Palestinians and foreign workers, often without permission from relatives.
> 
> The Israeli military confirmed to the programme that the practice took place, but added: “This activity ended a decade ago and does not happen any longer.”
> 
> Hiss said: “\*\*We \*\*started to harvest corneas … whatever was done was highly informal. No permission was asked from the family.”

(emphasis mine)

Now we don’t really know if the Israeli government was involved or not; but we do know it was not one single doctor doing this. Some people will spin this any which way to support their bias. Others, amazing as it seems, will actually defend this disgusting activity. But let’s not pretend it was just one guy out there gathering bodies and cutting them up all on his own.

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