JERUSALEM, April 13, 2016 (WAFA) – The Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality in the Israeli Knesset Wednesday is set to discuss a draft bill that would separate between Arab and Jewish women in the maternity wards of Israeli hospitals.

While the health ministry ‘prohibits all separation as a result of discrimination’, according to an Israeli radio report, some Israeli hospitals have reportedly been separating Arab and Jewish mothers in maternity wards.

In response to the radio report, the ministry affirmed that its instructions are not to separate any types of populations, not according to religion, country of origin, communities or any other criteria.

Member of Knesset, Bezalel Smotrich, from the Bayit Yehudi party, which is part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s coalition, reportedly backed the radio report and said in a tweet, “My wife really isn‘t a racist, but after giving birth she wants to rest and doesn‘t want those mass parties that are the norm among the families of Arab women after birth.”

In another tweet, he said, “It is natural that my wife would not want to lay down next to someone who just gave birth to a baby [who] might want to murder her baby in another 20 years.”

Smotrich’s remarks were widely blasted, including by members of the Knesset, and described as discriminatory and racist.

Israel’s opposition leader Isaac Herzog reportedly condemned Smotrich’s remarks on Facebook and said, “We do not agree that hospitals should separate between Jews and Arabs in the maternity ward. We will not allow this despicable separation between people.”

T.R.