Over the past year, there has been an increase of approximately 74% in the number of medical graduates of An-Najah National University in Nablus and Al-Quds University in east Jerusalem who are undergoing medical residency training in hospitals in Israel. While in 2024 there were approximately 70 such medical residents, the number has now risen to 122. This was disclosed Wednesday at a meeting of the Health Committee, which discussed the prioritization of residency positions.
committee chairMK Limor Sonn Har Melech (Otzma Yehudit) said, “Israel‘s medical residency positions are a strategic, valuable, and limited national resource. These residency positions are where the practical training of the next generation of physicians takes place. My policy is that those who serve [should be first in line]. These positions are too costly for the state to allocate indiscriminately, and the system must clearly prioritize army veterans and reservists, including those who studied abroad – individuals who devote the best years of their lives and even risk their lives for the country.
“The time has come to abolish the distortion known as ‘affirmative action’ for those who do not bear the burden,” she said. “It is inconceivable that those who do not serve, and who do not share in the most basic civic duty, should receive priority or reserved residency positions at the expense of those who do serve. Anyone who does not bear the burden of defending the State of Israel should not be allowed to bypass those who are, at this very moment, on the front lines.”
Committee Chair MK Sonn Har Melech further stated: “Anyone who chose to study medicine at institutions that serve as incubators of terrorism and denial of Israel’s right to exist – institutions located in Nablus or east Jerusalem – cannot be part of Israel’s healthcare system. I do not trust a physician who studied at Al-Quds University or An-Najah University in Nablus, in an environment of incitement and proximity to terrorist elements, to operate on an IDF soldier or to treat our children. According to Ministry of Health data, 14 medical residents who studied at Al-Quds University are currently training at Soroka Medical Center, four at Sheba Medical Center, and one at Wolfson Medical Center. This is a reality that cannot continue. We must halt the distorted affirmative action in admission to medical training programs, prioritize those who serve, and exclude graduates of the Palestinian Authority’s terror incubators. If a rapid, comprehensive, and systemic policy change is not presented, we will advance urgent private legislation to regulate the matter in all its aspects.”
MK Moshe Saada (Likud) said, “Because of this corrupting affirmative action, many graduates of An-Najah University in Nablus and Al-Quds University in east Jerusalem – both described as terror incubators – are accepted into medical residency programs. Moreover, during the height of the war, physicians from the Palestinian Authority are doing their residencies in our hospitals.”
MK Iman Khatib Yassin (United Arab List – Ra’am) said, “This is a racist and generalizing discussion that harms Israeli citizens who choose to study in Nablus because they were not accepted to medical schools elsewhere.”
According to Rachel Shalem, Senior Division Director for Workforce and Economic Planning at the Ministry of Health, the state allows medical students to study abroad at recognized institutions, while graduates of unrecognized institutions are not placed in residency programs in Israel. “Our objective is to increase the number of physicians trained in Israel from 1,200 to 1,700 by 2027, primarily by expanding domestic medical training rather than relying on studies abroad. The vast majority of residency slots will be filled by graduates trained in Israel. Currently, 122 graduates who studied in Nablus and east Jerusalem are undergoing medical residency training in Israeli hospitals.
“With the outbreak of the war, the Director General of the Ministry of Health asked Israeli medical faculties to admit reservists who received emergency call-up orders and were studying medicine abroad. Israeli universities provide reservists with preferential conditions, and beginning in 2026, a reservist entering a residency program in Israel will not be required to pay for residency training. Incorrect pricing of residency positions and benchmarks for training previously limited full utilization of residency slots, and we are now removing these barriers,” she said.
Dr. Orly Greenfeld, head of the Medical Professional Licensing Division at the Ministry of Health, added that the ethics, academic standards, and professional quality of each institution are examined, and that any information indicating an institution’s involvement in terrorist activity is investigated. A physician’s license is also contingent upon a criminal background check.
Prof. Dan Schwarzfuchs, Deputy Director of Soroka Medical Center, said, “Our responsibility is to ensure that residents of southern Israel have an adequate healthcare system. I do not have the luxury of choosing which physicians enter residency training at my institution.”
According to Dvora Margolis, a representative of the Council of University Heads, approximately 100 medical students who studied abroad and enlisted during the war have been absorbed into Israeli medical faculties, and “there is no affirmative action based on sectoral affiliation.”
Dr. Efrat Arbel, who is in charge of equality at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, noted that many physicians who were trained abroad lack even basic Hebrew proficiency, and that “many candidates from the Arab sector were accepted despite a low level of Hebrew proficiency.”
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