Anger over Israeli Lawmaker's 'Racist' Hospital Remarks

A far-right Israeli lawmaker sparked anger Wednesday after he said he would not want his wife to give birth in a hospital next to Arab mothers -- comments widely condemned as racist.

Bezalel Smotrich, a member from the nationalist right-wing Jewish Home party, made the comments on Twitter on Tuesday.

"My wife is totally not racist but after giving birth she wants to rest and doesn't want the massive celebrations that are customary for the families of the Arab women who give birth," he said.

Referring to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, he also tweeted that "it's natural that my wife would not like to lie next to someone who just gave birth to a baby who might want to murder her baby in another 20 years."

He later deleted both tweets.

Smotrich, who lives in a settlement in the occupied West Bank, has long been known for his harsh rhetoric.

His tweets were in response to reports that some Israeli hospitals were improperly segregating Jewish and Arab mothers in maternity wards.

Palestinian and Arab Israeli mothers give birth in Israeli hospitals. 

His party leader, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, condemned Smotrich's comments, while others said they were racist.

"No, Smotrich is not a Nazi, but he is a Jew who is as close as possible to this questionable description," columnist Ben Caspit wrote in Israeli newspaper Maariv.

"He does not demand to set up concentration camps and to build gas chambers, but he does have a racist ideology."

Smotrich's Jewish Home party forms part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition, which holds only a one-seat majority in parliament.