Holy Land : the IVH Battle
An investigation about In vitro fertilization at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on both sides of the wall : Israeli soldiers killed in action could soon give birth to orphans via post-mortem semen collection while Palestinian fighters condemned to long prison sentences have devised a technique to exfiltrate some of their sperm back home so that their wives can get pregnant through in vitro fertilization. On both sides of the separation wall, between two outbreaks of violence, these fatherless births are intended to honor the "heroes" and ensure their lineage.
Iman al-Qedra hasn't touched her husband since 2014, yet two and a half years ago she gave birth to a baby boy named Mujahid ("Jihad fighter", in Arabic). When her husband Mohammed, a Hamas member, was arrested by the Israeli army, Iman had an idea: to exfiltrate a sample of Mohammed's semen from his Israeli prison and transport it all the way to the enclave to enable her to become pregnant via artificial insemination. In all, 122 "freedom ambassadors", the nickname given to these children, are said to have been born in Palestinian territories.
50 kilometers from here, in Israeli territory, Baruch Ben Ygal's looks at a picture of his son. It was May 12, 2020. Amit Ben Ygal was taking part in a night raid in the occupied West Bank with the Israel Defense Forces when he was mortally wounded by a stone thrown. He was 21 years old. His dad then received a phonecall telling him that he had the right to ask for a sperm sample to be taken from his son's body so that he can later give birth to a grandchild. Baruch said yes. Currently, posthumous IVF rights are reserved only for the widows of fallen soldiers. However, in early May, Israeli lawmakers gave initial backing to a proposal that would expand these rights to non-married partners and parents
