Israel: Wombs in the service of the state

The Israeli daily newspaper Haa'retz reports that last week, after a five-year hiatus, Shlomo Benizri, the minister of labour and social affairs, convened the Israel Council for Demography. There were two items on the agenda, reports said - the need to encourage families to have more children, and the problem of foreign workers in Israel. On the face of it, this is just another committee. But the reconvening of this particular body, and the total indifference with which the event was greeted, is cause for serious concern.