MK Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home) whose statements against Jewish and Arab women sharing hospital rooms provoked a storm of controversy on Tuesday morning, has claimed that Channel 10 recorded an “interview” of his wife Revital without her knowledge.
Smotrich issued a statement on Tuesday evening, explaining that “My wife was recorded without her knowledge by Channel 10. Of course, a five-minute long conversation took place (between the parties), but the news agency only used a few seconds of the conversation. In my eyes this was an abominable act; she is a private person who is really not involved in my public life. I refused to interview with Rafi Reshef and the response was to secretly record my wife… great journalism…”
Smotrich’s wife, Revital, told Channel 10 that she had “asked that an Arab obstetrician leave the (delivery) room; because he was a man, but also because he was an Arab.”
According to Revital, “Whoever is not a Jew is problematic for me. The first moment when a child enters the world is a holy moment; pure, Jewish. I really wanted Jewish hands to be the first to touch my child.
She added that “I am not comfortable staying in the same room as an Arab woman. The way I see it, we are enemies. I was never refused. It seems to me that it is a very natural and clear-cut request.”
The media frenzy began when Smotrich expressed support for the actions of several hospitals, who have been separating between Arab and Jewish mothers in maternity wards, according to the mothers’ requests.
"Life is more important than anything. There are mental gaps and both sides are more comfortable being with their own. It's not racism at all," he posted from his Twitter account. "My wife is certainly not racist but after giving birth she wants rest, not the massive feasts (in the hospital rooms) that are customary with Arab families after births."
After his tweet received negative replies and he found out his wife was recorded without her knowledge, Smotrich issued a second statement, declaring that “It’s natural that my wife wouldn’t want to lie down (in a bed) next to a woman who just gave birth to a baby who might want to murder her baby twenty years from now.”