Yehuda Hiss: Difference between revisions
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Israel's Ministry of Health found that Hiss had been involved for years in the sale of illegally-removed body parts to medical schools.<ref name=Dube/> Rebecca Dube in the [[Forward]] writes that Hiss was never charged with any crime, but was forced to step down from running the state morgue in 2004. According to Dube, "the final straw, apparently, was when the body of a youth killed in a road accident was gnawed upon by a rat in Hiss's lab."<ref name=Dube/> Every body that ended up in Hiss' morgue, whether Israeli or Palestinian, was fair game for organ harvesting.<ref name=Dube>{{Cite web|title=Illicit Body-Part Sales Present Widespread Problem|author=Rebecca Dube|publisher=[[Forward]]|date=August 26, 2009, issue of September 04, 2009|url=http://www.forward.com/articles/112915/|accessdate=2009-09-05}}</ref> [[Arutz Sheva]] reported in 2005 that according to evidence submitted in prior investigations, Hiss had a "museum of skulls" at the institute that included the skulls of [[IDF]] soldiers who had been shot in the head.<ref name="ArutzSheva"/> |
Israel's Ministry of Health found that Hiss had been involved for years in the sale of illegally-removed body parts to medical schools.<ref name=Dube/> Rebecca Dube in the [[Forward]] writes that Hiss was never charged with any crime, but was forced to step down from running the state morgue in 2004. According to Dube, "the final straw, apparently, was when the body of a youth killed in a road accident was gnawed upon by a rat in Hiss's lab."<ref name=Dube/> Every body that ended up in Hiss' morgue, whether Israeli or Palestinian, was fair game for organ harvesting.<ref name=Dube>{{Cite web|title=Illicit Body-Part Sales Present Widespread Problem|author=Rebecca Dube|publisher=[[Forward]]|date=August 26, 2009, issue of September 04, 2009|url=http://www.forward.com/articles/112915/|accessdate=2009-09-05}}</ref> [[Arutz Sheva]] reported in 2005 that according to evidence submitted in prior investigations, Hiss had a "museum of skulls" at the institute that included the skulls of [[IDF]] soldiers who had been shot in the head.<ref name="ArutzSheva"/> |
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As director of the Institute, Hiss continued to handle high profile cases. In May 2003, he announced the identification of the body that washed ashore the beaches of Tel Aviv to be that of Omar Sharif, the accomplice of Asif Hanif, who carried out the [[Mike's Place suicide bombing]] the months previous. Hiss told [[Haaretz]] that Sharif's DNA was matched to samples provided by two British detectives and the cause of death was determined to be drowning.<ref name=Haaretz1>{{cite web|title=British bomber's body identified|author=Haaretz Staff|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=294817&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y|publisher=[[Haaretz]]]]|date=May 19, 2003|accessdate=2009-10-02}}</ref> |
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| ⚫ | Hiss ceased being the director of the institute in 2005 when allegations of a trade in organs resurfaced.<ref name=Cook/><ref name="ArutzSheva"/> After Hiss admitted to having removed parts from 125 bodies without authorisation, and following a [[plea bargain]] with the State of Israel, [[Elyakim Rubinstein]], Israel's former attorney-general, decided not to press criminal charges.<ref name=Cook/><ref name="ArutzSheva"/> Hiss was given only a reprimand and continued to hold his position as chief pathologist at Abu Kabir.<ref name=Cook>{{cite web|url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/963/op2.htm|title=But did it happen?|author=[[Jonathan Cook]]|publisher=[[Al-Ahram]]|date=September 3-9, 2009; Issue No. 963}}</ref> Rubinstein justified the decision by stating, "there is no suspicion of corruption or profiteering on the part of Prof. Hiss, whose only interest was the advancement of medical research."<ref name="ArutzSheva"/> The decision not to indict Hiss aroused considerable controversy and the MQG requested that Rubinstein reconsider.<ref name="ArutzSheva"/> |
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In January 2006, following the carrying out of an autopsy that was ordered by the Israeli courts for a Haredi woman found murdered in her apartment, a riot by dozens of [[Haredim]] took place inside the institute where Hiss worked. According to Dr. Benny Davidson, the manager of the institute, "Even in the institute's darkest days, there wasn't an event this big. They wrecked the entire hall, broke expensive equipment, and destroyed (institute director) Yehuda Hiss' room. The public reaction to the articles on the pathological institute was an abandonment of Hiss."<ref name=Ynet1>{{cite web|title=Haredim ransack Forensics Institute|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3208824,00.html|author=Ynet reporters|date=January 31, 2006|accessdate=2009-10-01|publisher=[[YNET]]}}</ref> |
In January 2006, following the carrying out of an autopsy that was ordered by the Israeli courts for a Haredi woman found murdered in her apartment, a riot by dozens of [[Haredim]] took place inside the institute where Hiss worked. According to Dr. Benny Davidson, the manager of the institute, "Even in the institute's darkest days, there wasn't an event this big. They wrecked the entire hall, broke expensive equipment, and destroyed (institute director) Yehuda Hiss' room. The public reaction to the articles on the pathological institute was an abandonment of Hiss."<ref name=Ynet1>{{cite web|title=Haredim ransack Forensics Institute|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3208824,00.html|author=Ynet reporters|date=January 31, 2006|accessdate=2009-10-01|publisher=[[YNET]]}}</ref> |
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Revision as of 01:11, 2 October 2009
Yehuda Hiss is the chief pathologist at the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine and has held this position since 1988.[1][2][3] The Abu Kabir institute, also known as the L Greenberg Institute of Forensic Medicine, is the only place in Israel and the occupied territories authorized to conduct autopsies in cases of unnatural death.[4] Hiss has also served as part of the faculty for the Terrorism and Medicine Program at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) at IDC Herzliya and in the Department of Pathology for the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University.[5][6]
Hiss conducted the autopsies of and authored the pathology reports for notable figures, including Yitzhak Rabin and Rachel Corrie, among others.[7] His position as director of the Institute at Abu Kabir has been a subject of controversy, and he was dismissed from that position after the legal system took up some of the charges against him, though he remains the chief pathologist of the Institute.[8][7] He is also accused of providing fallacious "expert testimony" in court cases regarding autopsies with which he had not been involved.[7]
Career
In 1997, Hiss released the results of a DNA test which he claimed disproved that a Yemenite woman's daughter was abducted by the state and put up for adoption. The woman, Margalit Omeisi, filed a police complaint. Hiss's findings were later disproven and it was shown that the woman was related to the lady she thought was her daughter.[7] Hiss was also involved with the postmortem of Yitzhak Rabin and in 1999 was accused of erroneously contradicting authoritative findings about Rabin's injuries.[7]
An article by Jonathan Rosenblum in The Jerusalem Post in October 2000 regarding a case in which Hiss' testimony played a crucial role also discussed how Hiss has long been a source of controversy. Rosenblum related that a 12-page investigative report in November 1999 by the local Tel Aviv newspaper Ha'ir stated that medical students at Abu Kabir under Hiss' direction were allowed to practice on bodies sent there for autopsy, and body parts were transferred for transplant use without permission from the families concerned.[8]
In January 2001, an investigative report in Yediot Aharonot claimed the institute headed by Hiss had been involved in "organ sales" of body parts to universities and medical schools for research and training, citing evidence including the "price listings" for body parts. Israel's Ministry of Health convened a committee to investigate the claims.[9]
In November 2001, the parents of an Israeli Defence Force soldier who died in training filed a petition with the Israeli High Court of Justice calling for Hiss to be suspended as chief pathologist and for criminal charges to be laid against him for authorizing the use of their son's body in medical experiments without their consent. The parents had filed a complaint with IDF after their son's body had been taken to the institute in 1997. [10]
In July 2002, Hiss was under investigation for numerous charges, including including the removal of organs from 81 deceased persons without familial consent. A petition by the Movement for Quality in Government (MQG) demanding Hiss be suspended from his positions at the Institute was denied by Israel's High Court.[7]
Israel's Ministry of Health found that Hiss had been involved for years in the sale of illegally-removed body parts to medical schools.[11] Rebecca Dube in the Forward writes that Hiss was never charged with any crime, but was forced to step down from running the state morgue in 2004. According to Dube, "the final straw, apparently, was when the body of a youth killed in a road accident was gnawed upon by a rat in Hiss's lab."[11] Every body that ended up in Hiss' morgue, whether Israeli or Palestinian, was fair game for organ harvesting.[11] Arutz Sheva reported in 2005 that according to evidence submitted in prior investigations, Hiss had a "museum of skulls" at the institute that included the skulls of IDF soldiers who had been shot in the head.[7]
As director of the Institute, Hiss continued to handle high profile cases. In May 2003, he announced the identification of the body that washed ashore the beaches of Tel Aviv to be that of Omar Sharif, the accomplice of Asif Hanif, who carried out the Mike's Place suicide bombing the months previous. Hiss told Haaretz that Sharif's DNA was matched to samples provided by two British detectives and the cause of death was determined to be drowning.[12]
Hiss ceased being the director of the institute in 2005 when allegations of a trade in organs resurfaced.[13][7] After Hiss admitted to having removed parts from 125 bodies without authorisation, and following a plea bargain with the State of Israel, Elyakim Rubinstein, Israel's former attorney-general, decided not to press criminal charges.[13][7] Hiss was given only a reprimand and continued to hold his position as chief pathologist at Abu Kabir.[13] Rubinstein justified the decision by stating, "there is no suspicion of corruption or profiteering on the part of Prof. Hiss, whose only interest was the advancement of medical research."[7] The decision not to indict Hiss aroused considerable controversy and the MQG requested that Rubinstein reconsider.[7]
In January 2006, following the carrying out of an autopsy that was ordered by the Israeli courts for a Haredi woman found murdered in her apartment, a riot by dozens of Haredim took place inside the institute where Hiss worked. According to Dr. Benny Davidson, the manager of the institute, "Even in the institute's darkest days, there wasn't an event this big. They wrecked the entire hall, broke expensive equipment, and destroyed (institute director) Yehuda Hiss' room. The public reaction to the articles on the pathological institute was an abandonment of Hiss."[14]
Aftonbladet allegations
Jonathan Cook has surmised that Hiss is the "missing link" in the Aftonbladet allegations. Hiss has admitted to plundering organs from IDF soldiers, and maintained a price list for various organs that he supplied to medical institutes and universities. The IDF routinely takes away dead Palestinians and takes them to the Abu Kabir institute to conduct autopsies. [15]
Medical publications
- Age-related basement membrane thickening of the vocal cords in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), (January 2009) The Laryngoscope (104:7)
References
- ^ Cole, 2007, p. 99.
- ^ Ynet reporters (January 31, 2006). "Haredim ransack Forensics Institute". BMJ. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
- ^ Judy Siegel-Itzkovich (January 20, 2001). ""Sale of organs" to be investigated".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Judy Siegel (December 28, 2000). "Foreign experts to inspect Abu Kabir forensic institute". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
- ^ "Terrorism and Medicine Program: Counter-Terrorism Studies Professional Certificate" (PDF). The Institute for Counter-Terrorism at IDC Herzilya. Retrieved 2009-10-01.
- ^ "Age-related basement membrane thickening of the vocal cords in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)". The Laryngoscope. 104 (7): pp. 865 - 868. January 2009.
{{cite journal}}:|pages=has extra text (help) - ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Infamous Chief Pathologist to Once Again Evade Punishment". Arutz Sheva. 2005-05-26.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b Jonathan Rosenblum (October 17, 2000). "Rosenblum's Columns: Presumed guilty". Jewish Media Resources (Original in The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
- ^ Judy Siegel-Itzkovich (January 20, 2001). "News roundup: "Sale of organs" to be investigated". BMJ. Abridged. 322 (128). Jerusalem.
{{cite journal}}: line feed character in|title=at position 14 (help) - ^ "Soldier's Family File Suit Against Dr. Yehuda Hiss". Arutz Sheva. 2001-11-11.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b c Rebecca Dube (August 26, 2009, issue of September 04, 2009). "Illicit Body-Part Sales Present Widespread Problem". Forward. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Haaretz Staff (May 19, 2003). "British bomber's body identified". Haaretz]]. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
- ^ a b c Jonathan Cook (September 3-9, 2009; Issue No. 963). "But did it happen?". Al-Ahram.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Ynet reporters (January 31, 2006). "Haredim ransack Forensics Institute". YNET. Retrieved 2009-10-01.
- ^ "Professor Yehuda Hiss: The missing link in Palestinian organ theft? :: The autopsy surgeon Aftonbladet forgot". Media Monitors Network. 2009-10-01.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)
Bibliography
- Cole, Leonard A. (2007). Terror: how Israel has coped and what America can learn. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253349184, 9780253349187.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help)