ABSTRACT
The essay discusses the publication in 2009 of Donald Boström’s article “Our sons are being plundered of their organs” in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet within the historical framework of blood libel. Jonathan Adams and Cordelia Heß attempt to distil the characteristic components of blood libels through the centuries in order to understand the charges of antisemitism against Boström and Aftonbladet in relation to the article’s insinuations about the IDF’s targeting of young Palestinian men to extract their organs for financial gain through illegal international trafficking. Furthermore, the article discusses reactions to the publication and the allegations of blood libel and suggests how and why the antisemitic canard of blood libel has evolved within a largely secular and “scientific” context.
