(JTA) — A Ukrainian philosophy professor said that Israel has brought thousands of Ukrainian children into the country to harvest their organs.

Vyacheslav Gudin told about 300 attendees at a conference in Kiev on Nov. 29 that Israeli medical centers have used the children for "spare parts" in the past two years, Ha’aretz reported Thursday.

The claim, which has been picked up by several Ukrainian Web sites, comes several months after a Swedish newspaper article claimed that Israel’s army killed Palestinians for their organs.

During the conference, two professors presented a book blaming "the Zionists" for the Ukrainian famine of the 1930s, according to Ha’aretz.

The spread of the organ harvesting claim comes during a contentious Ukrainian presidential election campaign in which anti-Semitism has played a major role. Presidential candidate Sergey Ratushnyak has made anti-Semitic and xenophobic statements during the campaign.

