Israeli Politician Suggests Doctors Could Deny Care to LGBTQ+ People
One of the incoming ministers of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government indicated that doctors in Israel should be allowed to discriminate against LGBTQ+ patients over religious beliefs.
It’s added to already growing fears about what the incoming government will do to LGBTQ+ rights.“The racist pronouncements of recent days against the LGBTQ community and other sectors of the public make me extremely worried and concerned,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said, according to The Guardian.Netanyahu himself called remarks by Orit Strook “unacceptable.”While he has denied a rollback of LGBTQ+ rights in the country, critics say he’ll have little sway over the far-right members of his coalition government that brought the long-time politician back to power.“Since Netanyahu is very, very weak he has no option [of handling] these extremist forces, some of whom are lunatics,” Yossi Beilin, who previously served as a minister of justice for Israel, told The Guardian. “Maybe he intends not to implement these things but I’m not sure he can avoid doing so.
These people are really zealots.”Strook, who is a member of the Religious Zionist party and is the incoming national missions minister, implied in a radio interview earlier this week that doctors should refuse treatment for queer people based on their religion.
