SBS exclusive on sperm smugglers in Israel

The Feed on Wednesday night has an international exclusive report on the risky business of sperm smuggling and the Palestinian babies born from sperm smuggled out of Israeli prisons.

SBS has gained unprecedented access from women working as smugglers who share their secret methods exclusively with The Feed’s  Patrick Abboud.

There are around 4,500 Palestinian husbands, sons and brothers imprisoned in Israeli jails. Many of them are serving life sentences. To the Israeli’s these men are terrorists but for most Palestinians they’re considered Martyrs

These Palestinian prisoners are not permitted conjugal visits and permitted visits are restricted to 45 minutes. Husband and wife are separated by a sealed glass panel and communicate via telephone. No physical contact is allowed at any time.

Lydia Al Rimawi has just given birth to what she calls “a gift from God” – new life born out of this underground smuggling ring rippling through Israel’s security prisons.

“The day we visited it was chaotic and the Israelis were very annoyed. I was scared because this was the only chance I had to get this sample out. I was very nervous. I was shaking. I was afraid that a soldier would come”, says Lydia of her ordeal in smuggling sperm from her husband serving time in an Israeli prison.

Lydia, Em Rafat and Samia are amongst a growing number of Palestinian women refusing to let the ongoing conflict between Palestinian and Israeli forces halt their lives. They’re keeping their husband’s legacies alive, one shot of semen at a time. 

Across the Palestinian Territories, Lidia’s accomplices are planning the next operation with the help of IVF specialist Dr Salem.

“We have 65 samples, we have 16 pregnancies now, we have three about to have their babies, they are near-term [due] in four weeks’ time and one baby born just yesterday” says Dr Salem.

Dr Salem advises them on how to keep the smuggled sperm alive on their return journey from the prisons so it can be frozen in the lab. IVF experts say sperm can survive outside the body for extended periods of time. 

“The samples come to me in different forms either in eye-drops containers, nose-drops containers, some of them give it in plastic gloves in different forms. The strangest thing the sperm came to us in was through a chocolate wrapper,” says Dr Salam.

Patrick Abboud travels with these women on a 14 hour journey to Ramon prison through several Israeli check-points as they attempt to help other mothers, wives and families smuggle out sperm.

Patrick Abboud’s feature length report will screen on The Feed on Wednesday night.

7.30pm Wednesday on SBS 2.