A British lawmaker was removed from a party position after calling on Israel to look into claims that its rescue team in Haiti harvested victims’ organs.
Jenny Tonge of the Liberal Democrat party was fired as party health spokesman Feb. 12 after she legitimized the claims by calling for an investigation, the Guardian reported.
Accusations that the Israeli rescue team in Haiti was harvesting body parts appeared in the online Palestinian Telegraph, a virulently anti-Israel Web site.
Tonge’s firing came after she told the Jewish Chronicle, “To prevent allegations such as these — which have already been posted on YouTube — going any further, the IDF and the Israeli Medical Association should establish an independent inquiry immediately to clear the names of the team in Haiti.”
In dismissing Tonge as Liberal Democrat health spokesperson to the House of Lords, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said Tonge’s comments “were wrong, distasteful and provocative, and I recognize the deep and understandable distress they have caused to the Jewish community.”
In 2004, Tonge was fired as spokeswoman on children’s issues after suggesting that if she were a Palestinian mother, she would consider becoming a suicide bomber. — jta