Israeli police announced on Wednesday that a network of organ trafficking has been uncovered in Israel.
An undercover investigation was launched a few months ago after a 50-year-old woman from Nazaret in Israel’s north, filed a complaint with police.
The woman, who was in dire financial need, responded to an advertisement in a local newspaper that offered $100,000 for a kidney. The woman was tested then sent to an undisclosed country in Eastern Europe, where her kidney was extracted. After she returned to Israel, she did not receive her fee as promised. Several similar complaints have been filed since then, police said.
The investigation uncovered a well-organized ring of organ trafficking, which includes organ dealers, agents, middlemen, and lawyers.
The scam requires “donors” to sign a contract and a fake declaration of familial relations between themselves and the patient. Then they are flown to another country such as the Philippines, Ecuador, or destinations in Eastern Europe. After the operation, the patients return to Israel without any medical documentation, sometimes with medical complications, and without payment.
According to police, several such rings exist in Israel. The rings target people facing hard financial times and exploit them. Some victims were already on their way to the operation when police stopped them and notified them of the scam.
Six suspects were arrested by police. One of them is a retired brigadier general from the Israel Defense Forces who was decorated in the 1973 war.
Two years ago, Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset, passed a law regulating organ donations, making it illegal to pay or be paid for an organ or to deal in organs. Organ donations are also now regulated by a government committee that ensure donations are made out of free will.
In the past, medical insurance companies in Israel would finance trips abroad for transplantation operations. This was stopped, though, after evidence started to surface of forced organ harvesting in China from death row prisoners and Falun Gong practitioners.
The communist regime in China came under international scrutiny when this evidence came to light in 2006. The pressure forced the regime to pass regulations concerning organ tourism to China. There is no evidence that regulations are being enforced, however, since organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners continues, according to a new report by acclaimed human rights lawyers from Canada, David Kilgour and David Matas.
An undercover investigation was launched a few months ago after a 50-year-old woman from Nazaret in Israel’s north, filed a complaint with police.
The woman, who was in dire financial need, responded to an advertisement in a local newspaper that offered $100,000 for a kidney. The woman was tested then sent to an undisclosed country in Eastern Europe, where her kidney was extracted. After she returned to Israel, she did not receive her fee as promised. Several similar complaints have been filed since then, police said.
The investigation uncovered a well-organized ring of organ trafficking, which includes organ dealers, agents, middlemen, and lawyers.
The scam requires “donors” to sign a contract and a fake declaration of familial relations between themselves and the patient. Then they are flown to another country such as the Philippines, Ecuador, or destinations in Eastern Europe. After the operation, the patients return to Israel without any medical documentation, sometimes with medical complications, and without payment.
According to police, several such rings exist in Israel. The rings target people facing hard financial times and exploit them. Some victims were already on their way to the operation when police stopped them and notified them of the scam.
Six suspects were arrested by police. One of them is a retired brigadier general from the Israel Defense Forces who was decorated in the 1973 war.
Two years ago, Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset, passed a law regulating organ donations, making it illegal to pay or be paid for an organ or to deal in organs. Organ donations are also now regulated by a government committee that ensure donations are made out of free will.
In the past, medical insurance companies in Israel would finance trips abroad for transplantation operations. This was stopped, though, after evidence started to surface of forced organ harvesting in China from death row prisoners and Falun Gong practitioners.
The communist regime in China came under international scrutiny when this evidence came to light in 2006. The pressure forced the regime to pass regulations concerning organ tourism to China. There is no evidence that regulations are being enforced, however, since organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners continues, according to a new report by acclaimed human rights lawyers from Canada, David Kilgour and David Matas.
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