Far-right lawmaker to try blocking program to train Palestinian doctors, nurses in Israel

By Jacob Magid

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31 August 2026, 10:27 pm

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Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

MK Limor Son Har-Melech attends a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting, July 18, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90/ File)

Far-right lawmaker and Knesset Health Committee Chair Limor Son Har-Melech says she will work to block an initiative to train Palestinian doctors and nurses at Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center, after likely Democratic presidential candidate Rahm Emanuel announced a $550,000 donation to the program.

“The Israeli health system is intended first and foremost for Israeli citizens. I will not allow its resources to be used to build the enemy’s healthcare system,” Har-Melech posts on X.

It’s unclear whether the Otzma Yehudit MK has the authority to shut down the collaborative program with An-Najah University Hospital in Nablus, but she says that she has written to Health Minister Haim Katz and the CEO of Sourasky Medical Center, demanding that they do so.