July 8, 2025
To:
MK Moshe Saada
Subject: Your Statements Against Arab Physicians in Israel
Dear Sir,
For many months now, and especially in your recent remarks in the Knesset plenum, you have been conducting a full-fledged campaign against physicians from the Arab sector in Israel. If a member of parliament in any other country were to make exactly the same statements — simply replacing the word “Arabs” with “Jews” — we would all justifiably cry out “antisemitism.”
In fact, data from the Council for Higher Education, as reflected in a review by the Knesset Research and Information Center from this past January, clearly show that there is no affirmative action in favor of Arab citizens of Israel at universities — with the exception of one unique program at Ben-Gurion University aimed at promoting Bedouins living in the Negev. This review indicated that the only affirmative action measures in place at other institutions are for members of the Ethiopian community, the ultra-Orthodox community, and IDF reservists.
Unfortunately, the facts you presented are also inaccurate. The claim that “Fatma” and “Muhammad” are admitted to medical studies in Israel at the expense of Jewish applicants is unfounded. The data tell a different story: in the academic year 2023–2024, only 9.7% of medical students were from the Arab sector, even though Arabs constitute 21% of the general population. This means that the majority of Arab medical graduates study abroad — without any funding or benefits.
Further, the data show that in 2023–2024, the average psychometric exam score of Arab students accepted to medical school in Israel was 725, compared to 723 among all medical students (Jews and Arabs combined).
There is no truth to the claim that “45% of medical positions go to the Arab public.” Perhaps you meant that 45% of new medical licenses issued in 2023 went to Arabs and Druze. Indeed, the representation of Arab men and women among Israel’s physicians has been increasing for decades. Today, they constitute about 27% of the entire medical workforce in the country.
This is a positive trend that reflects a constructive process of integration into Israeli society, particularly into the public healthcare system.
The Israeli healthcare system is an island of sanity and a beacon of equality, tolerance, and coexistence — and no one should be allowed to undermine that.
This system has repeatedly proven that it functions excellently when Jews and Arabs work side by side. They do so both routinely and during times of war, with one goal in mind: caring for patients — whoever they may be — without discrimination based on religion, gender, ethnicity, sector, or any other affiliation.
I condemn the attempt to drive a wedge between us physicians, and within our society as a whole, and I call on you — and on everyone — not to bring politics into the healthcare system.
Sincerely,
Prof. Zion Hagay
President, IMA