Ahead of the vote this week in the Knesset on the second and third readings of the gender segregation bill in higher education, the deans of Israel's medical schools sent a sharp letter this morning to Knesset members. In it they warn unequivocally that applying the law to medical studies and health professions will severely damage the quality of medical care in the country and endanger public health. "As deans of Israel's nine medical schools we wish to alert you that this law could cause severe harm to the health of Israel's residents, endanger the international recognition of medicine in the State of Israel, and even risk public health," the letter states.

The amendment to the Student Rights Law, which would allow gender-segregated tracks for advanced academic degrees (master's and doctoral), stipulates that segregation would be permitted only in classrooms and not in the public spaces of academic institutions. It also states that opening such tracks is not automatic, participation would be voluntary, students would not be required to study in segregated settings, and any academic institution wishing to do so would need to request and receive specific approval from the Council for Higher Education. Nevertheless, academia fears exclusion, damage to equality in the status of women, and harm to the quality of teaching and research.

The medical school deans warn that approving the law would make gender the determining factor in training medical teams instead of the expertise of the lecturers. "Instead of the lecturer - the best male or female expert - teaching the students, gender would become the determining component. Ask yourselves what you would want if, God forbid, a family member needed surgery - would the person operating be the best male or female professional, or a surgeon of the 'correct' gender?"

Currently gender-segregated studies are limited mainly to bachelor's degrees. The bill would allow separate tracks for all degrees and extend this to advanced degrees, master's and doctoral.

The medical school deans further note that joint group learning - female and male students, Haredi, Arab and secular - forms the basis for quality education tailored to population needs. "Each student in the group can illuminate and explain to their peers the unique and specific needs of their community."

They argue that harming joint learning, which is an essential foundation for adapting medical treatment to all populations, would lead to loss of international recognition and esteem for Israel's higher education institutions. "As a result, Israeli doctors would be unable to pursue fellowships at leading hospitals abroad, causing severe damage to the availability and quality of specialist physicians in the country."

Among the signatories are Prof. Reli Hershkovitz (chair of the forum) from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Prof. Orly Avni from Bar-Ilan University, Prof. Keren Abraham from Tel Aviv University, and Prof. Arnon Afek from Reichman University. Also signing are Prof. Ami Aharonheim from the Technion, Prof. Ayelet Erez from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Prof. Haim Bitterman from the University of Haifa, Prof. Iris Barash from Ariel University in Samaria, and Prof. Eli Pikarsky from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The medical school deans emphasize that the law as presented "only permits" teaching in gender segregation, "but tomorrow it may be accompanied by dedicated resource allocation, and the higher education and health systems, which are desperate for resources, will be forced to yield to this impossible dictate."

Prof. Arnon Afek: "Can it be imagined that a researcher or physician would not know the aspects of the opposite sex, would not be aware of them? After all, all we want is to increase social awareness, to adapt medicine to both sexes, to all sectors."

"This is not a political issue but an academic-professional one," says Prof. Arnon Afek, dean of the Dina Recanati School of Medicine at Reichman University, director of the Gertner Institute at Sheba Medical Center, and former director-general of the Ministry of Health. "The future of education in Israel in general, and in medicine in particular, will be irreversibly damaged by the process of gender segregation."

According to him, gender segregation at the bachelor's level, even if far from ideal, has some logic, "since it is very important to us to integrate Haredim into the workforce, and a bachelor's degree is essentially the key and entry into the workforce. Therefore this compromise, in my opinion, is a necessary compromise, though also professionally problematic to a large extent." However, he explains that the purpose of master's and doctoral degrees is different.

"There are professional degrees such as medicine and psychology in which integrated studies, men and women together, are critical for proper training. Today we teach in groups, we teach through mutual enrichment. When men and women sit together, you learn the different medical aspects. Men and women are completely different in the world of medicine. Can it be imagined that a researcher or physician would not know the aspects of the opposite sex, would not be aware of them? After all, all we want is to increase social awareness, to adapt medicine to both sexes, to all sectors."

Prof. Afek stresses that joint learning is also the global standard in teaching. "If we reach a situation where there are places teaching in segregation, we will become a country that teaches by force of reality not according to world recognition. This situation could harm the global recognition of medical studies in Israel and this is very serious. It means our doctors will not be able to pursue further training abroad in the future; this is the resulting danger."

Prof. Afek notes that the medical school at Reichman University is now opening its third cohort, with about 15 percent of the 200 students coming from the Haredi sector. "I strongly believe in integrating them into the system. I ask Knesset members that before they vote they ask themselves only the following question: God forbid if one of your loved ones needs surgery - would you want the best male or female doctor to operate, or the doctor matched to them by gender?"