Israeli hospital removes ‘not kosher for Passover’ cookies from pregnant woman

A guard at the Laniado Hospital in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya took away cookies that were not kosher for Passover from a pregnant woman

The incident follows the recent passage of the “hametz law,” which blocks unleavened food from being brought into hospitals during the holiday of Passover, which begins this year on Wednesday evening.

The woman’s husband expressed his frustration in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 news.

“The holiday hasn’t even started. And there is also nothing in the law that says that you have to leave food outside. The hospital is acting against the law,” said the unnamed husband. “Why did the hospital take this freedom of action?”

He explained that his wife has a high-risk pregnancy and needs access to food while receiving her urgent medical treatment.

“They told her, ‘You have food that is non-kosher for Passover, leave it outside and we’ll get you a ticket.’ She has a high-risk pregnancy and it does not make sense that she should go into urgent treatment without food to sustain her throughout the day,” he said. “This is an illegal act and contrary to the hametz law. It is simply outrageous.”

There appears to be some confusion over how to interpret the hametz law for hospitals.

In contrast to the incident, Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem issued a statement expressing its long tradition of “preserving mutual respect among all sectors within the unique and multifaceted human fabric in Jerusalem that allows it to find the right balance for allowing people to live alongside one another rather than at the expense of one another.”