Britons can donate their blood in Israel for the first time in 24 years, health officials announced this week.

Since 1999, anyone who had lived in Britain for more than six months between 1980 and 1996, or received a blood transfusion there during that period, was not allowed to donate their blood over fears they could pass on the fatal brain infection bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as Mad Cow Disease.

But now the UK ambassador to Israel is organising a donation drive next month in which he will give blood himself.

The news comes after a recent ruling by the US Federal Drug Administration (FDA) that the risk of infection “does not justify turning away blood donors in the same way as in the past”, since the overall risk is “negligible”.

Magen David Adom (MDA), which operates Israel’s national blood bank service, said in a statement that it and the health ministry would adopt the FDA directive.

The first Briton to give blood since the ban was lifted was MDA paramedic Aryeh Myers, formerly of Chigwell, Essex, who made aliyah in 2012. He donated in Tel Hashomer Hospital, Tel Aviv.

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Aryeh Myers in Tel Hashomer Hospital

Mr Myers said: “Not being able to give blood in Israel always upset me. I saw my friends and colleagues giving and all I was able to do was look on. To be given the privilege of giving blood and saving lives is incredible and I’m so proud to be the first.”

MDA UK chief executive Daniel Burger said: “It is wonderful news that British olim can once again give blood in Israel. We at MDA UK have been lobbying our colleagues in Israel on this matter for many years as we know how much Brits in Israel long to support the MDA blood drive and save more lives.”

To mark the announcement, the UK’s ambassador to Israel, Neil Wigan, is planning a blood donation event in conjunction with MDA UK next month.

Mr Wigan said: “I am very excited to hear this news and I have no doubt the British community in Israel feels the same. I would like to thank Magen David Adom and the Israeli ministry of health for making this important decision.

“I hope to be one of the first to donate blood and I encourage Brits in Israel to partake in this meaningful opportunity to save lives.”

The outbreak of BSE in cattle in the 1980s led to the deaths of 178 people in Britain, and British meat was banned from most countries for years. Today, it is estimated that one in 2,000 people in the UK is a carrier.

In October 2021, Israel’s health ministry lifted a ban on blood donations from gay men, who had been barred because of fears over the transmission of Aids. In 2017, a similar restriction was lifted on Ethiopian Israelis over the same concern.