After attending Mandela’s memorial, Knesset member’s blood rejected in government drive because she is African

‘The day after returning from anti-Apartheid leader Nelson Mandela’s memorial in South Africa, Israel’s first Ethiopian-born Knesset member Pnina Tamano-Shata (Yesh Atid), had her blood refused in a government donation drive because she is African. Volunteers at a Magen David Adom (Red Star of David—Israel’s Red Cross) booth set up inside of Knesset told Tamano Shata that she could not give blood because she is has “the special kind of Jewish-Ethiopian blood.”

Tamano-Shata explained that she is a member of Knesset, served in the Israeli army and asked to speak to a manager about her blood’s rejection. She was then told her credentials didn’t matter. The Heath Ministry has a policy against taking blood from people who live in Ethiopia, which they categorize as a high-HIV rate country. Tamano-Shata was born in Ethiopia and at the age of three, moved to Israel in 1984.’

Read more: After attending Mandela’s memorial, Knesset member’s blood rejected in government drive because she is African