The Aftonbladet-Israel controversy refers to the controversy that followed the publication of an article in the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet that presented allegations that the Israeli Defense Force stole organs from Palestinians in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The diplomatic and media controversy that ensued involved Aftonbladet, Sweden, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and some representatives of Jewish communities around the world. The article was written by Swedish photojournalist Donald Boström, and was titled "Våra söner plundras på sina organ" ("Our sons are plundered of their organs"). It focused on Palestinian claims of organ theft that he had investigated in Israel during the 1980s and 1990s. The Israeli government and some Jewish groups initially responsed by characterizing the article's allegations as akin to ancient antisemitic blood libels against Jews, arguing that it should not have been published, or at least should have been denounced by Swedish officials. The Swedish Newspaper Publishers' Assocoation, Reporters Without Borders and the Swedish government and the Swedish Chancellor of Justice argued that the article was a valid manifestation of freedom of the press. While suspicions that organs were taken from Palestinian bodies held by the IDF first emerged during the First Intifada, they had never been investigated. Aftonbladet said that the judgments did not necessarily prove the claims made by Palestinian families, but supported the relevance of the story. Boström later said in an event in Israel that he had reconsidered his views on the article, that he had no proof other than allegations of Palestinians, and that he would have written the article differently if done again. In December 2009, Israel admitted there had been organ harvesting of skin, corneas, heart valves and bones from dead bodies of Palestinians, Israeli soldiers and citizens and foreign workers, without permission from relatives, in the 1990s, but that this practice no longer occurred. The article had claimed that, "young Palestinian men started to disappear from villages in the West Bank and Gaza. After five days Israeli soldiers would bring them back dead, with their bodies ripped open." It also quoted Palestinians as saying young men from the West Bank and Gaza Strip had been seized by the Israeli forces and their bodies returned to their families with missing organs." It was reported that Israel denied (and noted that there was no evidence to support) claims that Israeli soldiers were deliberatly killing Palestinians for their organs or that Israel was kidnapping Palestinians alive to harvest their organs, charges that Israel continues to allege are anti-Semitic.

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