Will the rise in global antisemitism affect sperm donation? An Australian man was planning to be a sperm donor for a lesbian couple. However, they spurned him because they were felt that there were “ethical challenges” which made it difficult for them to “navigate parts” of his “identity”. In short, because he was Jewish.

Gay hair stylist Jay Lazarus, who lives in Perth, established a relationship with a couple in Brisbane. However, after October 7, they sent him a long text message telling him that they had decided not to go ahead.

“We are so deeply affected by the world events at the moment, particularly the war between Israel and Gaza,” the couple wrote, according to The Australian. “We cannot even begin to imagine what you are going through with your heritage and deep beliefs. We are so sorry for everything that is happening. We are down a rabbit hole with the depth of our emotions and the ethical challenges, and truth be told we feel out of our depth in proceeding with this donor relationship. 

“We are about kindness and love. Everything we do, say, work towards, is love in action, for every human being. We are sad for the Israeli’s (sic) and we are sad for the Palestinian people, so deeply sad. We don’t have the capacity to navigate parts of your identity in this donor relationship so we are respectfully ending this now.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin was astonished by the note. “For a man to be rejected as a sperm donor simply because he is of the same ethnicity as Israelis battling jihadism is outrageous,” Mr Ryvchin said.

“The manner in which the donors tell themselves they act only out of love while succumbing to hatred is quite incredible. This would not occur with any other form of racism or discrimination. Yet where Jews are concerned it seems perfectly reasonable to reject someone because they are Jew and still claim the moral high ground.”