Israeli doctor suggests fines on Palestinian mothers having more than five children
Occupied Palestine (QNN)- An Israeli department head at Soroka Hospital said on Sunday that the “Arab womb” is threatening to overwhelm ‘Israel’ with high birth rates and suggested fines on Palestinian mothers giving birth to five children to limit the Palestinian fertility rate.
At a meeting hosted by Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked on Sunday evening, Gideon Sahar, head of Soroka’s cardiac surgery department in Beersheba, directed a question to Shaked about the “most problematic population”, referring to Palestinians living in the 1948-occupied Palestine.
“Regarding the matter of population growth and the more problematic population, we face a kind of paradox,” Sahar said.
“On the one hand, we understand that the birthrate is decisive – the Arab womb; and on the other hand, we encourage it with all the child allowances.”
“That’s why I think we should consider a child allowance that is regressive: the first child receives one, the second child receives one, perhaps the third child; the fourth child does not, and the fifth child perhaps triggers a fine. We have to figure out something,” he added.
ההצעה של פרופ גדעון סהר, מנהל מחלקת ניתוחי לב חזה בסורוקה בחוג בית של איילת שקד שמרגיזה את החברה הבדואית: ״מצד אחד אנחנו מבינים שהילודה מכריעה אותנו, הרחם הערבי, מצד שני אנחנו מעודדים את זה עם קצבאות הילדים. צריך לשקול קצבת ילדים רגרסיבית. ילד רביעי לא יקבל, חמישי זה אולי קנס״ pic.twitter.com/T6vl0nUezS
— almog boker (@bokeralmog) October 24, 2022
Shaked responded by saying such a policy “won’t work.”
She added, “The best thing is for them to simply undergo Westernization, to strengthen the Bedouin woman. The more she studies and works, the more she will live a Western life, and in that life, there are fewer children.”
The Israeli doctor’s remarks have prompted widespread anger among the Palestinians living in the 1948-occupied Palestine.
The Association of Arab Physicians in Naqab demanded that Sahar be “fired immediately” and filed a petition signed by more than 150 doctors calling for disciplinary action against the doctor.
“Anyone who sees the Arab womb as a threat should not be a member of the health system, and definitely can’t take care of the hearts of Arabs,” the group said in a letter.
“We expect the hospital management to take a strong stance against statements of this kind, from which emerges a spirit of general racial arrogance against an entire population.”
Jafar Farah, chairman of the Mossawa rights group, said he was shocked by Sahar’s “racist” remarks and suggestions.
“It’s scary to think what he would be capable of doing when he makes decisions to save the life of an Arab in the operating theater.”
Sahar’s comments reflect a long-held concern by Israelis that the Palestinian population will increase enough and threaten their demographic superiority in ‘Israel’.
According to a report by the Israel Democracy Institute, as of 2019, the overall fertility rate of Palestinian women in ‘Israel’ is 2.98 children per woman, compared to 5.26 among Bedouin women in the Al-Naqab. Among Israeli settlers, the rate is 3.09 children per woman.
