IDF soldiers in a religious battalion of the Golani Brigade refused to donate blood due to the omission of “mother” and “father” from the MDA donation forms, Arutz Sheva reported on Monday.

Many Dati Leumi Rabbanim have banned their talmidim from donating blood since Magen David Adom replaced the words “father” and “mother” with “parent 1″ and parent 1″ in a nod to the LGBTQ community. This has been a major blow to MDA since previously Dati Leumi students contributed a large percentage of their donations and mobile blood units were sent on a regular basis to Dati Leumi yeshivos, where most of the bochurim would donate.

“A mobile blood donation unit came here, specifically to the religious battalion,” one of the soldiers told Arutz Sheva. “We had a discussion about whether we should donate blood despite the forms. Our commander heard about it and tried to convince us to donate despite our ideology, saying that he didn’t think that refraining from donating will make a significant difference in the public discourse. We responded that if we as a group will say that we’re not donating, it will make a difference.”

“At a certain point, we told him not to try to educate us. We then called our Roshei Yeshivos and almost all of them told their students not to donate.”

Ultimately, all the soldiers refused to donate and even sent a letter to MDA, stating: “We in Division 4 of the Golani Brigade resolutely refuse to donate blood via the MDA until the donation forms are amended and the words ‘father’ and ‘mother’ are returned.”

“We call on MDA and the Health Ministry: Don’t mix in agendas into life-saving issues. We live in a Jewish state that values moseret Yisrael and Jewish character.”

“It’s important for us to note that the sole responsibility for the blood that wasn’t donated lies with the MDA and Health Ministry who changed the wording of the form. We’re currently in the midst of a war of opinions and views around the state’s Jewish identity and we won’t lend a hand to this.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)