Smotrich — who backed separate wards for Arabs — accused of hypocrisy after thanking doctors for saving son

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich published a post on social media yesterday thanking the doctors at the Galilee Medical Center for saving his son’s life after he was injured in a recent Hezbollah rocket attack.

The post includes photos of Smotrich with some of the hospital staff, including its director Masad Barhoum.

The post exposes him to accusations of hypocrisy from critics who recall that he has spoken out in favor of having separate maternity wards for Jewish mothers so they don’t have to deliver babies in the same rooms as Arabs.

“Smotrich has been inciting against Arabs for years,” writes Hadash-Ta’al chair Ayman Odeh in an X post.

“He built an entire career on our dime because all he has to offer is racism and supremacy and nothing else,” Odeh says.

“Smotrich demanded time and again that his wife not sit next to an Arab woman while giving birth and that Arab doctors, such as my wife, not touch his babies,” Odeh continues.

“But these are the Arab doctors who saved [his] son. Maybe Smotrich the racist will take this Shabbat to learn what it means to be a human being — like the Arab doctors, who are part of the groups of people he incites against every day and who, despite his hatred, saved his son,” he adds.

תודה שהצלתם את הבן שלי.

כשבוע לאחר פציעתו של בני, בניה חברון, הגעתי היום למרכז הרפואי בנהריה כדי לומר תודה מעומק הלב לצוותים הרפואיים שטיפלו בו ובחבריו במסירות, במקצועיות ובאנושיות גדולה.

פגשתי גם את חבריו לצוות – לוחמים גיבורים – ושמעתי מהם על רגעי הפציעה בשטח ועל תהליך השיקום… pic.twitter.com/2ucvG3ZsUh

— בצלאל סמוטריץ' (@bezalelsm) March 12, 2026