WATCH: How Jailed Palestinians Smuggled Sperm To Their Wives
A Palestinian man plays with his baby on a beach in the Gaza Strip. Image by Getty
By Ari Feldman November 14, 2017
A new Al Jazeera documentary details how Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails smuggled semen to their wives in the Gaza Strip in order to have children.
Over 32 babies were born to wives of imprisoned men through in-vitro fertilization between 2012 and 2015, Al Jazeera reported.
Palestinians imprisoned for security violations are not allowed conjugal visits, leaving their families to resort to creative techniques if they induce pregnancy.
Israeli authorities cracked down in 2015 on the smuggling, which had become a symbol of protest. Israeli authorities have also denied identification documents and legal status to babies born with smuggled semen, and deny the children visitation rights with their fathers.
“Just as he managed to get his sperm sample smuggled out of prison, he will also be released,” said one woman who became pregnant with her imprisoned husband’s child. “My dream has come true. Hopefully, it will become even better when my husband is released.”
Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
