ISRAEL: Knesset Rejects Allowing Surrogacy Services For Same-Sex Couples Because “This Is A Jewish State”

Haaretz reports:

A Knesset committee on Wednesday approved a draft law sponsored by the government itself, allowing single women who cannot conceive to obtain surrogacy services in order to build a family. With the approval of the Knesset’s Labor, Welfare and Health Committee, The bill can now proceed to its second and third readings into law. The committee rejected propositions that the extension of the law to eligible single women encompass single-sex couples.

Yael German of the Yesh Atid party said during the committee meeting that discriminating against single-sex couples is undemocratic and negates equality. Moti Yogev of Habayit Hayehudi answered, “This is a Jewish state.” German added that the bill as is closes the door to a whole community that fulfills its civic duties.

Chen Arieli, chairwoman of the LGBT Association, commented that the “hypocrisy of the incumbent coalition is record-breaking.” In English, Netanyahu boasts about the state’s treatment of its LGBT community, Arieli said, adding that in Hebrew, he resorts to every low political gambit he can “to prevent us from being parents and building a family.”