As the Cabinet met for its weekly session today, thousands of religious Jews, in traditional black attire, covered the hills opposite the Premier’s office in a demonstration against autopsies. The demonstration was organized by a committee “For Safeguarding Human Dignity.”
The demonstrators sang psalms and held posters calling doctors “murderers in white gowns” and “Bank robbers get prison terms, body robbers get research grants.” A spokesman for the demonstrators claimed the group had evidence from many parts of the country of men and women who were promised by their physicians that they would not be subject to autopsy, whose bodies were used for the purpose of autopsy. The spokesman did not have figures, but said he was convinced there “were many such cases.” He said, “We will continue the campaign in every way possible, until a man will have the right to his own body in Israel.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.