Donating blood on first day eligible■ GIL HOFFMAN, the former political correspondent for The Jerusalem Post, and currently the executive director of HonestReporting, who continues to write a column for this paper, is very proud of his son Ami. The teenager decided to celebrate his birthday by donating blood on the first day that he was legally eligible to do so. "} 6f:{"position":17,"content":"

Ami received special permission to donate before he turned 17, as his Hebrew birthday preceded his Gregorian calendar birthday. Ami is the instructor and humanitarian activities supervisor for Magen David Adom’s Jerusalem region, where he is in charge of volunteers for blood drives. The organization could hardly refuse him when he wanted to celebrate his birthday while setting an example.

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His dad, who went along with him, just to make sure that Ami was OK after giving blood for the first time, had nothing to worry about, judging by the smiles on both their faces.

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MDA is running blood drives throughout the country, as it is essential to increase supplies during war time, since so many more transfusions are needed for the wounded.

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■ JUST AS Israel is appreciative of the solidarity events that are held by Diaspora communities, both as fundraisers and morale boosters, so those Diaspora communities, which are suffering severe antisemitism, are appreciative when Israel demonstrates that it cares about what is happening in the places where they live.

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Australia, which after the Holocaust was a wonderful haven for Jewish survivors, many of whom became prominent and affluent in “the lucky country,” is now a nightmare for many Jews, despite statements by political leaders and police condemning antisemitic acts.

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