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L. Greenberg National Institute of Forensic Medicine ( he, המכון הלאומי לרפואה משפטית ע"ש ל' גרינברג) also known as Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, is an Israeli forensic research laboratory located in the
Abu Kabir
Abu Kabir ( ar, أبو كبير) was a satellite village of Jaffa founded by Egyptians following Ibrahim Pasha's 1832 defeat of Turkish forces in Ottoman era Palestine. During the 1948 Palestine war, it was mostly abandoned and later destroyed. ...
neighborhood of
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
.
__TOC__
History
Established in 1954 as part of the Israel Police Division of Criminal Identification (today the Division of Identification & Forensic Science), the Greenberg National Institute of Forensic Medicine is now a department of the
Israeli Health Ministry and affiliated with the
Sackler Faculty of Medicine
Sackler Faculty of Medicine is a medical school affiliated with Tel Aviv University, located in Tel Aviv, Israel.
History
The Sackler School of Medicine was named for Arthur, Mortimer and Raymond Sackler, and was founded and named prior to the ...
at the
University of Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...
. Administratively it reports to
Assaf HaRofeh Hospital
Shamir Medical Center, formerly Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, is a hospital located on , southeast of Tel Aviv, Israel.
History
The Medical Center was named after Asaph the Jew, author of the Oath of Asaph and an early medical text. The facilit ...
.
The Abu Kabir Institute is the only facility in
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
authorized to conduct autopsies in cases of unnatural death.
The lab at Abu Kabir conducts forensic examination in cases of rape, homicide, suicide and suspicious death. It also identifies victims of
terror attacks
The following is a list of terrorist incidents that have not been carried out by a state or its forces (see state terrorism and state-sponsored terrorism). Assassinations are listed at List of assassinated people.
Definitions of terroris ...
.
Organ removal allegations
In 2005, the then chief pathologist
Yehuda Hiss, director of Abu Kabir from 1988 to 2004, admitted, as part of a
plea bargain
A plea bargain (also plea agreement or plea deal) is an agreement in criminal law proceedings, whereby the prosecutor provides a concession to the defendant in exchange for a plea of guilt or '' nolo contendere.'' This may mean that the defendan ...
, to the unauthorized removal of organs, bone and tissue from 125 bodies in the 1990s. Israel said that such activity stopped in 2000 .
In 2009, Abu Kabir was mentioned in a
controversial
Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opposite ...
article in Swedish
tabloid ''
Aftonbladet
''Aftonbladet'' (, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries.
History and profile
The newspaper was founded by Lars Johan H ...
'' by
Donald Boström
Carl Donald Boström (born 30 May 1954) is a Swedish journalist, photographer, and writer. He is known for his writings and photography relating to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He has also authored several cookbooks.
2009 article on organ ...
. Boström accused the institute of being part of a human organ trafficking ring in which
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...
(IDF) soldiers abducted Palestinians to "harvest" their organs.
Boström later admitted having no evidence. "I have a personal opinion," Boström told
Israel Radio
''Kol Yisrael'' or ''Kol Israel'' ( lit. "Voice of Israel", also "Israel Radio") is Israel's public domestic and international radio service. It operated as a division of the Israel Broadcasting Service from 1951 to 1965, the Israel Broadcastin ...
. "It concerns me to the extent that I want it to be investigated. But whether it's true or not - I have no idea, I have no clue." In an interview with an Israeli newspaper, Boström said his allegations were based on hearsay: "What I experienced during this day is many people from Israel who called me haven't read the article. So they think I'm accusing the IDF of stealing organs. That's not what I'm doing. I just recorded the Palestinian families saying that."
The
Israeli Ministry of Health
The Ministry of Health ( he, מִשְׂרַד הַבְּרִיאוּת, translit. ''Misrad HaBri'ut'') is a ministry in the Israeli government, responsible for formulating health policies. The ministry plans, supervises, licenses, and coordinat ...
later acknowledged that "skin, corneas, heart valves and bones" had been removed during autopsies of Israelis, including IDF soldiers, Palestinians and foreign workers in the 1990s.
[Kevin Flower and Guy Azriel]
Israel harvested organs without permission, officials say
''CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
'', 2009-12-21. Retrieved on 2009-12-24.[Anne Barker]
Israel admits organ harvesting
''Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
'', 2009-12-22. Retrieved on 2009-12-24.[Simon McGregor-Wood]
Israel Took Organs of Dead Without Permission
''ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
'', 2009-12-21. Retrieved on 2009-12-24. The ministry says that for the past decade, procedures carried out at Abu Kabir have conformed with ethics and Jewish law,
[Mark Lavie]
Israel admits to taking organs illegally
''The New Zealand Herald
''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...
'', 2009-12-21. Retrieved on 2009-12-24. and all organ removal is done with permission.
[Mark Lavie]
Israel harvested organs in '90s without permission
''Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
'', 2009-12-21. Retrieved on 2009-12-24 .
Nancy Scheper-Hughes
Nancy Scheper-Hughes (born 1944) is an anthropologist, educator and author. She is the Chancellor’s Professor Emerita of Anthropology and the director and co-founder (with Margaret Lock) of the PhD program in Critical Medical Anthropology at ...
, a professor of anthropology at the
University of California-Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...
who founded
Organs Watch, an organization that monitors traffic in human organs, said she decided to publicize an interview with Hiss in the wake of the
''Aftonbladet'' affair.
She described the involvement of the IDF as a "widely-known secret in Israel."
[Magnus Sundholm]
''Man höll tyst av plikt mot landet''
''Aftonbladet
''Aftonbladet'' (, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries.
History and profile
The newspaper was founded by Lars Johan H ...
'', 2009-12-22. Retrieved on 2009-12-24. However, Scheper-Hughes made it clear she does not believe Israel murdered Palestinians for organs.
The
Attorney General of Israel
The attorney general of Israel ( he, היועץ המשפטי לממשלה, ''Ha-Yo'etz Ha-Mishpati La-Memshala'', lit. ''Legal Advisor to the Government'') heads the legal system of the executive branch and the public prosecution of the state. ...
dropped criminal charges against Hiss. He was fired in 2012 and replaced by Dr.
Chen Kugel.
References
{{authority control
Medical research institutes in Israel
Pathology organizations
Forensics organizations
Organizations based in Tel Aviv
1954 establishments in Israel
Organizations established in 1954