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Controversy brews over Israeli babies born to Thai surrogates

The campaign accusing Interior Minister Gideon Saar of being responsible for babies born through surrogacy in Thailand not allowed to leave should blame agencies and the parents instead.
Former Israeli prime minister and Likud lawmaker Benjamin Netanyahu (L) sits next to Likud lawmaker Gideon Sa'ar (C) and interim Likud party chairman Tzahi Hanegbi (R) at a Likud party meeting in Jerusalem November 21, 2005. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon asked Israel's president on Monday to dissolve parliament, opening the way for a snap election around March that he hopes to win as head of a new centrist party. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun - RTR1BF8H
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It has been impossible to avoid the well-publicized campaign being waged against Interior Minister Gideon Saar over the past few days, claiming that he is delaying the arrival in Israel of dozens of babies, born to Israeli parents through a surrogacy procedure in Thailand. Most of those parents are same-sex couples who are currently in Thailand with the children, whom they cannot bring back to Israel.

Saar, who is the father of a one-and-a-half-month-old baby, has become the immediate target of these babies' parents and a large group of celebrities who came out in support. Over the past few days, they have been holding demonstrations outside his home in Tel Aviv, waving signs with the slogan, “Gideon Saar, your baby is at home. Ours isn’t!”

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