JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s largest medical center and health care workers from hospitals around the country have spoken out against remarks by allies of Benjamin Netanyahu calling for a law to allow discrimination against LGBTQ people in hospitals and businesses.
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It was part of a broader blowback against remarks made this week by Religious Zionism politicians calling for legal discrimination against LGBTQ people.
Netanyahu’s new government — the most religious and hard-line in Israel’s history — is made up of ultra-Orthodox parties, an ultranationalist religious faction, and his Likud party. It is to be sworn in on Thursday.
Earlier this week, two Netanyahu allies from the ultranationalist Religious Zionism party said that their faction seeks to change an anti-discrimination law in a way that would permit businesses and doctors to deny service to LGBTQ people on the basis of religious belief.
Orit Struck, a Religious Zionist lawmaker, said her party seeks a change to the country’s anti-discrimination law that would include allowing religious health care providers to refuse to treat LGBTQ patients “so long as there are enough other doctors to provide care.”
Sheba Medical Center released a video on Instagram of health care workers from around the country on Monday saying “we treat everyone.” Similar statements were made by doctors and administrators at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa and Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.
Netanyahu later rebuked Struck for her remarks, saying there would be no curtailing of LGBTQ rights under the new government.
Yated Neeman, a newspaper affiliated with one of the ultra-Orthodox parties in Netanyahu’s coalition, published an editorial against the Religious Zionism politicians, saying they were “defaming Judaism worldwide” and branding the future government as “one that persecutes Arabs, minorities and discriminates against people on the basis of religion and more.”
Several Israeli companies said they would not work with businesses that discriminate against clients for religious reasons.
Bank Discount, Israel’s third largest bank, said Monday that its board decided that it “would not grant credit to businesses or bodies that discriminate against clients on the basis of religion, race, sex or sexual orientation.”
Wiz, an Israeli cybersecurity company, expressed “grave concern” over Religious Zionism politicians’ remarks and said it would require companies hiring its services to commit not to discriminate against its clients.
Most people here seem to only be looking at it from their point of view. Here is how the atheists will look at it. “It is our firmly held beliefs to not allow people who discriminate against others based on their lifestyle choices or religion… and deny them medical care or a hotel room or service in a restaurant to allow them service or entrance into our establishment. People with such archaic views who are so virulently exclusionary we cannot abide in our place of business as they violate our code of conduct and beliefs… They may shake palm fronds and eat unleavened bread but we don’t see them as pious and kindhearted people who seek unity and bringing people together but rather they are the antithesis of righteousness and justice and we cannot tolerate such people who purport these beliefs and espouse such views in our hotel or restaurant or hospital or our apartment building or park…” Of course all of the sudden all the frum people will be shouting they are worse than the nazis and it is anti semitism but when we do it to the irreligious than it is 10000 percent on the up and up and they should have zero complaints because we are following the Torah and they aren’t and the fact that they don’t believe in it is their fault, maybe we should continue to lecture them in that and speak condescendingly to them about something they completely deny and throw rocks at them and spit on them and trash some cell phone stores and light some dumpsters on fire that will definitely help them see the light. Like all of this won’t come back to bite us in the face a billion times over and instead of blaming ourselves we will completely blame the “other side” for all of it.
Every religious doctor will provide care for any patient. The issue here is whether a frum doctor will be required to mutilate a physically healthy patient who wants to transition.
If by serving someone aligned to a (Biblically unacceptable) alternative lifestyle I am enabling him (or her) to commit such sins, it’s a basic democratic right to deny that individual based on my own religious freedoms. If however, it is an unrelated transaction or service, then the law should empower all.
An organization with there own policy. Has spoken Be interesting if they polled there memberships for their opinions
On this issue.
They should give people who say they are LGBTQ good psychological care to cure them of their illnesses.
I don’t understand, would that Yated be ok publishing pics of a gay wedding? How about advertsing an event for lgbt ? Don’t they want the right to discriminate?
Now it’s not clear what kind of medical care would be denied? Do we mean they won’t provide care if a gay guy has stomach cancer ? Or do we mean if he has aids that he got because of his sin?
I also don’t see any condemnation about gays. I see them mad at denying Arab rights. What does Bodem have to do with klutz?