For almost two years now, anti-Israel activists and the American Left have been using images of sick children as "proof" of a genocide and famine in Gaza.
One of those children is Osama al-Raqab, who was removed from Gaza to treat his genetic condition in Italy: cystic fibrosis. Another is Kareem Muammar, who suffers from Fanconi syndrome (a disease that affects the kidneys, intestines, and liver.
Many young children suffer from these genetic diseases as a result of consanguinity, the marriage of relatives (usually first cousins). In Gaza, the prevalence of consanguineous marriages is anywhere from 40 to 50% of all marriages. Almost 75% of Gaza's children diagnosed with β-thalassemia, a blood disorder, were the product of a consanguineous marriage. The National Library of Medicine, part of the National Institutes for Health (NIH), reported that "Among Palestinian Arabs the rate of consanguinity is very high and some 44.3% of the marriages are between relatives (22.6% of them between first cousins)...Among the parents of patients with rare autosomal recessive disorders the consanguinity rate was much higher than the one of the general population (92.5%). Among the autosomal recessive disorders, which were relatively frequent in the population, there were fewer marriages between relatives; but in most cases the difference from rare disorders is relatively small."
This is important because the UK's National Health Service (NHS) has decided to put aside the real risks of consanguinity in th name of political correctness.
🔴 The NHS says first-cousin marriage is linked to “stronger extended family support systems and economic advantages”https://t.co/4q3sysCUmx
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) September 28, 2025
Here's more from the Telegraph:
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The NHS has been urged to apologise for publishing guidance extolling the benefits of first-cousin marriage despite the increased risk of birth defects.
Guidance published last week by the NHS England’s Genomics Education Programme says first-cousin marriage is linked to “stronger extended family support systems and economic advantages”.
But the practice has also been linked to oppression of women and also has a proven increased risk of genetic disease in offspring of first-cousin relationships.
Tory MP Richard Holden spoke to the Mail on Sunday and said, "Our NHS should stop taking the knee to damaging and oppressive cultural practices. The Conservatives want to see an end to cousin marriage as a backdoor to immigration too, but Labour are deaf to these sensible demands."
Holden continued, "Sir Keir Starmer should stop running scared of the misogynistic community controllers and their quislings who appear in the form of cultural relativist-obsessed sociology professors, and ban a practice the overwhelming majority, from every community in Britain, want to see ended for good.”
Dr. Patrick Nash of the Oxford-based Pharos Foundation social science research group said the NHS guidance was "truly dismaying" and Cousin marriage is incest, plain and simple, and needs to be banned with the utmost urgency – there is no ‘balance’ to be struck between this cultural lifestyle choice and the severe public health implications it incurs."
As mentioned earlier, Osama al-Raqab was sent to Italy for treatment of his cystic fibrosis. The NHS is already struggling financially and facing major staffing shortages. For fiscal year 2023-2024, local NHS systems overspent by £1.4 billion. Only 61% of patients are treated within 18 weeks, far under the NHS goal of 92%, and elective procedures face a massive backlog -- as of July 2025, there were 7.4 million patients on the elective procedure waiting list.
NHS argues that such guidance dates back to the reign of King Henry VIII, so he could marry Catherine Howard, the cousin of King Henry's ex-wife, Anne Boleyn, and notes that "Genetic counselling, awareness-raising initiatives and public health campaigns are all important tools to help families make informed decisions without stigmatising certain communities and cultural traditions."
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