HE Ambassador Daniel Taub joined a group of students in London yesterday who met to donate their blood in support of the “Blood Relations” project.
The ‘Blood Relations’ project was borne out of a global challenge ‘The Impossible Brief’, launched by BBR Saatchi & Saatchi Israel at the 2010 Cannes Advertising Festival where creative minds from all over the world were invited to present ideas that would bring Israelis and Palestinians closer together. The winning idea submitted by Jean Christophe Royer of BETC, Paris, inspired the birth of ‘Blood Relations’, an initiative that seeks to bring the two peoples closer together through the shared act of giving of blood.
The Jewish, Muslim and International students were supported by Palestinian Seham Abu Awwad and Israeli Robi Damelin, members of the Parents Circle Families Forum (PCFF), an Israeli/Palestinian organisation of bereaved families who work together for peace and reconciliation. The Union of Jewish students also played a key role in promoting and raising awareness of this initiative.
The Israeli Ambassador H.E. Daniel Taub, who came to participate in the blood drive, welcomed the initiative. “As a combat medic in the IDF I learned that issues of life and death can help bridge the divide. I am very moved to see people reaching out to each other in such an important and creative way.”
The donations in London follow a series of joint Israeli Palestinian blood donation events with PCFF in Israel at the end of September.