I've been sitting on these words for 2 weeks, not sure where or how to voice them, or if anyone would even care to listen. But if I can bring awareness to even one more person, of the hypocrisy I've been seeing so much of recently, that's enough for me.
By now, most people are aware of brands that support Israel in its ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. I want to bring people's attention to another, quieter industry that has been vocal in its support for Israel and silent on the genocide unfolding as we speak: the fertility industry. And I think it is escaping accountability precisely because not everyone will be exposed to it or encounter it in their lifetimes, but please. Just be aware.
IVF is free in Israel. That means quite a bit of research related to reproductive medicine comes out of Israel. That means there are companies based in Israel developing and selling technologies to theoretically help you have a baby. And that means other players in the space are loudly and proudly making statements on social media expressing their support for Israel and more insidiously, spreading misinformation that sanitizes its grim, violent history.
This is while Palestinian mothers and fathers are cradling their martyred children, and while orphaned children are crying for their parents. This is while anyone who menstruates in Gaza is taking contraceptives to stop their periods because they don't have access to sanitary products. This is while a Palestinian couple who waited 17 years to have a baby finally had quadruplets, only for the quadruplets and their mother to all lose their lives. This is while 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza are unable to access the medical care they need, around 5500 of which are due to give birth in the next month.
If you're contemplating getting fertility care, I'm not trying to dissuade you from it, but rather encouraging you to do your own research prior to undergoing additional procedures (nearly always unnecessary) that feeds more money into the industry - especially with newer, unproven technologies. Add-ons have limited evidence to support their safety or effectiveness anyway, as recently concluded by the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology. And if you consider yourself a feminist, please don't forget the plights of Palestinian people and how Palestinian women's reproductive rights are being threatened (and Black Israelis! Ethiopian Jews living in Israel were given Depo-Provera shots without their consent).
Never forget that it's not just big corporations and governments that are supporting the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. It's also the people and companies who are claiming to do good in this world. Don't let them get away with it. Never forget the horrors and atrocities they are abiding, and never let them forget the blood that soaks their hands. These companies, these people, are not doing nearly enough good in the world to cancel out the evil they are putting out right now.
