
MK Moshe Gafni, who heads the Knesset's United Torah Judaism party, on Tuesday expressed support for those refusing to donate blood to Magen David Adom's (MDA) blood bank, Kikar Hashabbat reported.
At a meeting of the Knesset's Health Committee, Gafni said, "Today we are living in a society that....will change not only the blood donation forms, but will also change everything else, including the identity cards...in order to receive legitimacy for these things."
"People will come, myself among them, to say, 'Do not give blood donations to MDA. Give blood donations to Beilinson Hospital - those forms say, 'father,' and, 'mother.'"
Turning to MDA, he said, "You are not acting as a governmental organization should act."
Several months ago, MDA changed its blood donation forms, replacing the words, "mother," and, "father," with, "Parent 1," and, "Parent 2," in what has been widely seen as a move made to fit the LGBT agenda and normalize same-sex marriage.
As a result, many yeshivas have blocked donations to MDA until the original forms are restored. They are not the only ones: Golani soldiers also refused to donate blood unless the original forms were brought back.
Recently, MDA warned that blood supplies are running dangerously low, calling on the public to donate, but refused to cooperate with yeshivas whose students were interested in donating blood, but only with the original forms. Instead, MDA entirely removed all reference to parents, though the decision is not in line with medical logic.
Meanwhile, some people have resumed blood donations to MDA, even though they have not backed down and reverted to the original forms.