MK to Netanyahu: Is Yigal Amir a better parent than I am?
MK Itzik Shmuli [Zionist Union] addressed Prime Minister Netanyahu during a Knesset debate on a surrogacy bill.
By HAGAY HACOHENUpdated: OCTOBER 31, 2018 18:02Benjamin Netanyahu(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
MK Itzik Shmuli [Zionist Union] addressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday and asked: "look me in the face and tell me I'm not good enough to be a parent."Shmuli, an openly gay politician, said these things in a Knesset debate on the surrogacy bill, which currently discriminates against LGBT couples seeking to parent through surrogacy.Naming the difficulties involved in seeking surrogacy outside the state of Israel, "going to the other side of the world, investing half a million shekels [$135,000] learning the law books of a different country", Shmuli asked "how is it that [murderer of former prime minister Yitzhal Rabin] Yigal Amir can [be a parent] and I can't?"Members of the house walked up to Shmuli and shook his hands following his speech. Netanyahu said in his response that parenthood through surrogacy, a flashpoint issue in the Knesset's politics, is a "personal and human issue.""My wife and I helped many people from the LGBT community," he said, pointing out that during the 2015 earthquake in Nepal his administration flew in babies born to Israeli-LGBT parents from that country to Israel.He then said that at this moment in time, there isn't a majority in his coalition to pass the bill, despite the fact he, personally, supports expanding the bill to LGBT people.Netanyahu addressed the Knesset following a demand backed by 40 signatures of MKs that obliged him to appear and state his position regarding the Bill. 13 LGBT activists won seats in city councils across the country following the Tuesday local elections, The Aguda, Israel's LGBT Task Force NGO, said. That list includes the first openly gay activist in the Jerusalem city council since 2005.
